IPL mini auction: When and where to watch 350 players go under the hammer in Abu Dhabi

The IPL mini auction for 2026 will be taking place in Abu Dhabi on 16 December, the BCCI has confirmed.

A total of 350 cricketers will be going under the hammer, among which are 240 Indians. Quinton de Kock, the comeback man of South Africa, has been a late surprise addition to the list.

de Kock is going for a base price of ₹1 crore. Steve Smith, the Australian batting legend, will go under the hammer with a base price of ₹2 crore. The Test specialist batter had last played in the IPL in 2021.

Initially, around 1390 players had registered themselves for the IPL auction this year. The number was trimmed to 1005 and finally to 350 for the 77 slots that are left to be filled. Among the 77 slots, 31 are reserved for overseas players.

When and where to watch the IPL auction 2026?

The IPL auction 2026 can be watched live on the JioHotstar app and the Star Sports Network channels.

The event will begin at 2:30 pm IST or 1 PM UAE time.

In the US and Canada, the event will begin at 04:00 am ET and will be streamed on the Willow TV network.

Which franchise will have the biggest purse?

Three-time IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the mini auction with the biggest purse this time around. KKR can spend upto ₹63.4 crores.

Following them will be five-time champions Chennai Super Kings, who will have a kitty of ₹43.4 crores. The lowest purse strength will be of another five-time champions, Mumbai Indians, who will enter the auction with a kitty of ₹2.75 crores.

KKR have decided to go for a large-scale overhaul of its side, and has thus released players like Venkatesh Iyer ( ₹23.75 crore) and Andre Russell ( ₹12 crore). They currently have 13 open slots to fill in their squad.

However, the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side have retained their core team, which includes the likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Rinku Singh, as well as Angkrish Raghuvanshi.

CSK has also taken a similar step by trading their franchise icon Ravindra Jadeja and England international Sam Curran to the Rajasthan Royals in exchange for Sanju Samson.

The BCCI has revealed that the auction will begin with that of the capped players and will be sorted according to roles - batters, all-rounders, wicket-keeper-batters, fast bowlers, and spin bowlers.

After the auction is done for the capped players, it will then move on to the uncapped players, who will be auctioned in the aforementioned order.