IPL Auction 2026: Indian Premier League mini-auctions over the years have seen record-breaking bids, with overseas cricketers have benefitting from the increased demand at the table. The windfall signings hit a crescendo in 2023 when Australia pace pros Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc walked away with staggering auction prices, triggering a response from the organisers.
Cummins became the first Rs 20-crore signing in IPL history, when he was roped in by the SunRisers Hyderabad for Rs 20.75 crore. Staggeringly, Starc would go several notches higher at Rs 24.75 crore, returning to the IPL after nearly a decade with the Kolkata Knight Riders. The massive cash deals prompted the IPL organisers to bring in a rule change that prevented the overseas players from walking away with jumbo contracts, even if they were eventually priced at the end of an auction bid.
This is exactly why even if one can expect some fierce biddings at the IPL 2026 Auction table for foreign stars, especially between KKR and the Chennai Super Kings who boast more than Rs 40 crore in their respective purses, the overseas cricketers will not receive the entire share of the pie.
Why overseas players won’t get more than Rs 18 crore in IPL 2026 Auction?
As per the tweaked auction rules, an overseas star will only receive the portion of the final winning bid that will fall below the lower amount between the highest retention bracket and the highest auction selling price at the previous Mega Auction. Heading into the auctions, the biggest retention bracket was slotted at Rs 18 crore among several franchises. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant was snapped up by the Lucknow Super Giants for an earth-shattering Rs 27 crore, the highest-ever bid in IPL history at the Mega Auction last year. This means that the any overseas player who will be up for grabs on Tuesday can only walk away with Rs 18 crore in the contract, even if their final bid at the table between teams would exceed that amount.
In the auction pool, 41 players have listed themselves at the highest base price of Rs 2 crore, of which 39 are overseas players.
Highest base price (Rs 2 crore) in IPL 2026 Auction: Devon Conway, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, David Miller, Steve Smith, Gus Atkinson, Wanindu Hasaranga, Liam Livingstone, Rachin Ravindra, Sean Abbott, Michael Bracewell, Jason Holder, Daryl Mitchell, Cooper Connolly, Tom Curran, Daniel Lawrence, Liam Dawson, Finn Allen, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Tom Banton, Shai Hope, Josh Inglis, Gerald Coetzee, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Anrich Nortje, Matheesha Pathirana, Akeal Hosein, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Maheesh Theekshana, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Lungi Ngidi, William O’Rourke, Mustafizur Rahman, Alzarri Joseph, Naveen-ul-Haq.