Daijiworld Media Network - Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, Dec 9: In a major overhaul ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has trimmed its massive longlist of 1,355 players to a focused pool of 350 — nearly a 75% cut — following multiple rounds of discussions with franchises. The revised roster also includes 35 surprise entrants who were not part of the initial spreadsheet circulated earlier, Cricbuzz reported.
The auction will take place on December 16 at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena, starting at 1 pm local time (2:30 pm IST), the BCCI informed teams late Monday.
Among the unexpected inclusions, the biggest headline is South African star Quinton de Kock, who was missing from the preliminary list. His name was added to the third lot of wicketkeeper-batters after a franchise requested his inclusion. The 33-year-old, fresh off a return from international retirement and a century in Visakhapatnam, enters the auction with a base price of ?1 crore — half of what he fetched at the previous mega sale when KKR bought him for ?2 crore before releasing him after a modest season.
Several other international players have made late entries, including Sri Lankans Traveen Mathew, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera and Dunith Wellalage, Afghanistan’s Arab Gul and West Indies’ Akeem Auguste. On the domestic side, new names such as Vishnu Solanki, Parikshit Valsangkar, Sadek Hussain, Izaz Sawariya and 20 more have been added.
As per the BCCI’s outlined format, the auction will open with capped players grouped by role — specialist batters, all-rounders, wicketkeeper-batters, fast bowlers and spinners — followed by uncapped players in the same order.
The opening batch (BA1) features top-tier names including Cameron Green, Devon Conway, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Prithvi Shaw and David Miller, while Venkatesh Iyer leads the all-rounders in the AL1 bracket.
The BCCI has also indicated that the accelerated phase is tentatively set to begin after the 70th player, with Afghanistan’s Wahidullah Zadran holding that slot. Players numbered 71 to 350 will go under the hammer in the first acceleration round, after which franchises may nominate unsold or unpresented players for a rapid final run.
New inclusions in IPL 2026 auction
Overseas: Arab Gul (Afghanistan), Miles Hammond (England), Dan Lategan (England), Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Connor Eztherhuizen (South Africa), George Linde (South Africa), Bayanda Majola (South Africa), Traveen Mathew (Sri Lanka), Binura Fernando (Sri Lanka), Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka), Dunith Wellalage (Sri Lanka), Akeem Auguste (West Indies).
Indian: Sadek Hussain, Vishnu Solanki, Sabir Khan, Brijesh Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Aaron George, Jikku Bright, Srihari Nair, Madhav Bajaj, Shreevathsa Acharya, Yashraj Punja, Sahil Parakh, Roshan Waghsare, Yash Dicholkar, Ayaz Khan, Dhurmil Matkar, Naman Pushpak, Parikshit Valsangkar, Purav Agarwal, Rishabh Chouhan, Sagar Solanki, Izaz Sawariya, Aman Shekawat.