The IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi today surprised everyone. Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings spent the most money, with five of the top six most expensive players going to these two teams.
KKR entered with the biggest purse, approximately ₹64 crore, and CSK had ₹43 crore. Both teams made a huge impact.
KKR’s Big Bids on Foreign Players
KKR bought Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for ₹25.20 crore, making him the most expensive foreign player in IPL history. Green is seen as a replacement for Andre Russell.
Following this, KKR acquired Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana for ₹18 crore, a bowler currently struggling with injuries but possessing an X-factor. KKR also added Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman for ₹9.20 crore. These were their three major purchases.
Other players like Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, and Rahul Tripathi were acquired at their base prices.
CSK’s Focus on Youth
Chennai Super Kings did things differently this time. After finishing last in the previous season, they hit the reset button and placed big bets on young, uncapped Indian players. They bought 19-year-old Kartik Sharma and 20-year-old Prashant Veer for ₹14.20 crore each, making them the most expensive uncapped players in the IPL.
CSK had started trial sessions as early as September and focused on domestic talent.
Coach Stephen Fleming said, “As the game has evolved, we might have been a little bit slow to evolve with it. Sometimes you can hang on to theories and philosophies because of past success but we identified that we needed to shift and partly the work that we did last season halfway through has enabled us to continue that work done.”
Other teams also easily achieved their targets. Delhi Capitals acquired David Miller and Ben Duckett at their base prices. Lucknow bought Josh Inglis for ₹8.60 crore, even though he might miss most of the season’s matches.
Rajasthan acquired Ravi Bishnoi for ₹7.20 crore, RCB signed Venkatesh Iyer for ₹7 crore, and SRH secured Liam Livingstone for ₹13 crore. Punjab and Mumbai also added backup players at reasonable prices.
All 10 teams executed their plans well and left happy. IPL 2026 is now going to be even more exciting.
