The 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction is scheduled to take place on December 16, 2025 in Abu Dhabi, marking the third consecutive year that the event will be held overseas. The shift to international venues began with the 2024 auction in Dubai. This was followed by the two-day mega auction for the 2025 season, conducted in Jeddah in November 2024. Unlike mega auctions, however, the 2026 event will follow the standard mini-auction format and will be completed within a single day.

Ahead of the auction, all ten franchises must finalize the players they intend to retain and release from their 2025 squads. This retention deadline is set for 3:00 PM IST on November 15. Once franchises submit their lists, the IPL governing council will circulate a registered pool of players. Teams will then identify potential targets from this long list, which will subsequently be trimmed to form the final auction pool.

The trading window, which initially opened right after the 2025 season concluded, will remain active until a week before the 2026 auction. It will then temporarily close and reopen immediately after the auction, continuing until one month before the start of the 2026 IPL season. Notably, franchises are prohibited from trading any player who is purchased during the 2025 auction cycle.

So far, four trades involving five different franchises have been officially confirmed. The most prominent among these is arguably the most high-profile player swap in IPL history, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the five-time champions, have acquired Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals (RR). In exchange, RR have secured the experienced all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, adding considerable depth to their squad.

On November 13, Mumbai Indians (MI), also five-time champions, completed two all-cash signings. They brought in India all-rounder Shardul Thakur from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 2 crore and West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford from Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 2.60 crore. In a separate move, MI traded Arjun Tendulkar to LSG at his base price of INR 30 lakh.

The tentative window for the 2026 IPL season is set from March 15 to May 31.