IPL 2026 Auction: The Indian Premier League mini auctions over the years have seen record bids for overseas players. Demand for foreign cricketers peaked in 2023 when Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc fetched massive prices. Cummins became the first Rs 20 crore player in IPL history after Sunrisers Hyderabad signed him for Rs 20.75 crore. Starc went even higher when Kolkata Knight Riders paid Rs 24.75 crore for his return to the league after nearly a decade.
These deals forced IPL organisers to change the auction rules. Under the new rule overseas players will not get the full amount if the bid goes very high. At the IPL 2026 auction there is expected to be strong bidding for foreign stars. Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings both have more than Rs 40 crore in their purse. However overseas players will not receive the entire winning amount.
Under the revised rules an overseas player can only receive an amount equal to the lower figure between the highest retention slab and the highest selling price from the previous mega auction. The top retention bracket is Rs 18 crore. The highest bid at the last mega auction was Rs 27 crore when Lucknow Super Giants signed Rishabh Pant. As a result any overseas player sold at the IPL 2026 auction will receive a maximum of Rs 18 crore even if the final bid crosses that figure.
A total of 41 players have registered at the highest base price of Rs 2 crore. Out of these 39 are overseas players. The list includes 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, and Naveen-ul-Haq.
