Delhi: The IPL 2026 auction took place on 16 December in Abu Dhabi. 10 teams participated in this auction and a total of 77 players were bought. All the teams together spent Rs 215.45 crore. Out of this amount, foreign players received Rs 128.05 crore. At the same time, Rs 87.40 crore was spent on Indian players. Among Indian players, Rs 24.15 crore was imposed on capped players and Rs 63.25 crore was imposed on uncapped players.

10 special things about IPL auction

Third consecutive year when the auction took place outside India

After Dubai and Jeddah, now in Abu Dhabi. The total purse for the teams was Rs 237.55 crore. The auction was held at the Etihad Arena and in the one-day auction, a total of 369 players (244 Indians + 115 foreigners) were vying for 77 slots in the pool.

What was the best purchase in general?

RCB’s Venkatesh Iyer is getting the maximum votes. RCB bought this only player who made 4 consecutive fifties in the IPL playoffs for just Rs 7 crore whereas his previous contract was worth Rs 23.75 crore.

worst buy

The title of worst purchase goes to KKR for spending Rs 18 crore on Sri Lankan fast bowler Mathisha Pathirana. The situation was such that the previous team Chennai Super Kings did not take any interest in buying him back while KKR spent Rs 5 crore on Pathirana more than his previous salary.

UAE’s youngest first-class cricketer

No one pays attention to one special thing about UAE’s youngest first-class cricketer, leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja, and that is his height. It is also written as 6 feet 6 inches but BCCI wrote it as 6 feet 5 inches. Anil Kumble was more than 6 feet tall while India’s tallest leg spinner Rahul Sharma is 6 feet 4 inches tall. Generally tall cricketers become fast bowlers and Yash was also a fast bowler before becoming a leg spinner.

most expensive foreign players

Australian all-rounder Cameron Green became the most expensive foreign player of IPL and was bought by KKR for Rs 25.2 crore, even though he will get only Rs 18 crore. His record-breaking price is being talked about everywhere, but what did Green actually get? Only Australian dollars will be deposited in Green’s bank account, not rupees. So in terms of dollars, the bid was $4.27 million, he would get $3 million, and Green was actually able to get a contract for less than his 2023 price. Even though Mumbai Indians had bought him for Rs 17.5 crore, he got 3.15 million Australian dollars. World Record: A new world record was created for the highest bid for any foreign player in franchise cricket.

Most expensive uncapped players

A record was made for the most expensive uncapped player in the IPL auction and Chennai bought two players Prashant Veer and Karthik Sharma and spent Rs 14.2 crore for each. The previous record was Rs 10 crore which was spent by Lucknow franchise for Avesh Khan in 2022. The interesting thing is that the Indian selectors are not selecting Karthik Sharma in the India Under 19 team. The IPL contract of Karthik and Prashant Veer is bigger than the contracts of players like Abhishek Sharma, KL Rahul, Travis Head, Rajat Patidar, Varun Chakraborty, Rinku Singh and Kuldeep Yadav. Another special thing: When Prashant played in UP T20 League, the team was Noida Super Kings and now he will play for Chennai Super Kings in IPL.

Mumbai Indians have the least amount

Mumbai Indians had the lowest amount to buy a player in this auction: only Rs 2.75 crore and even then Mumbai made the first bid for Green, who was ultimately sold for Rs 25.2 crore. The interesting thing is that despite having such a small purse, they took an excellent player like De Kock for just Rs 1 crore. No other team even bid on him just to increase the price.

Akeal Hosein in all three teams of Super Kings

Akeal Hosein was bought by Chennai Super Kings and with this he made a record of contracts for all the 3 teams of the Super Kings family. He is already playing for this family’s Texas Super Kings and Joburg Super Kings teams.

Ravi Bishnoi was a net bowler of Rajasthan Royals.

Ravi Bishnoi, who was bought by Rajasthan Royals, was actually the nets bowler of the same team in Jaipur 7 years ago. Now Rs 7.20 crore has been spent on them. A very special record of Bishnoi which is not mentioned anywhere; He was the first Indian spinner to become number 1 in T20 International.

Two great fun games of chance and luck:

When KKR bought Venkatesh Iyer for Rs 23.75 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, it ultimately defeated RCB in the bidding. Then KKR were the defending champions but along with Venky, remained at number 8 in the IPL 2025 points table. This time when RCB bought Venkatesh, it defeated KKR in the last bid and RCB is also the defending champion. What will happen to him in IPL 2026?

Quinton de Kock has played for Mumbai Indians before also. Mumbai won the trophy in two of the three seasons he played with him. For them they are one of their lucky charms.