IPL Auction 2026: Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan to be the first to go under the hammer! Know this IPL rule

IPL Auction 2026: The list for the IPL 2026 auction has now been released. The first set in this list includes Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, who remained unsold in the previous season. This list is prepared under a special rule of the auction.

IPL Auction 2026: The auction for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16. The list of players to be auctioned has been released. This auction appears different this year, with several big names missing, such as Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, etc.

The first set of the auction does not include Venkatesh Iyer and Liam Livingstone, who have a base price of ₹2 crore, but features Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan with a base price of ₹75 lakh. Both these players remained unsold in the 2025 auction. This is due to a specific rule of the IPL auction.

What This Rule States

The first set in an IPL mega auction always consists of marquee players. However, this is a mini-auction, and when the auction begins, the set starts with capped batsmen. Priority in this list is given to players whose names have been suggested by the most teams.

The first list of capped batsmen this year includes the names of Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. Alongside them are Devon Conway, Cameron Green, David Miller, and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Among these, Cameron Green is an all-rounder, but he has registered himself as a batsman for the auction, which is why he is also part of this list.

350 Players Shortlisted for the Auction

A total of 1355 players had registered for the IPL 2026 mini-auction. Out of these, 1005 players have now been removed. The BCCI has shortlisted 350 names. Among these 350 players, there are 16 Indian and 96 foreign capped players. If we talk about uncapped players, there are 224 Indian players and 14 foreign players. Out of these 350 players, 40 players have a base price of ₹2 crore. In this auction, 10 teams need to fill a total of 77 slots, of which 31 slots are for foreign players.