BCCI’s Late Twist Before IPL 2026 Auction: 19 New Players Added, Franchises Caught Off Guard
BCCI’s last-minute move adds 19 players to the IPL 2026 auction list, taking the total to 369 and catching franchises off guard ahead of bidding.
BCCI announces late additions to the IPL 2026 auction player list in Abu Dhabi.
Just before the IPL 2026 auction, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has unexpectedly included 19 more players to the auction pool along with the last minute update which comes just less than 24 hours before the bidding starts in Abu Dhabi. This decision has reportedly caused some teams to be very uncomfortable.
Cricbuzz reports the franchise officials and the BCCI insiders have specified the additions as “unprecedented” and pointed out that there has never been such a big increase in the auction list so close to the event. One of the franchise officials said that the teams usually have their strategies ready a long time back and hence the late inclusions create big problems.
At the domestic level, Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran is the most talked-about name who has been added to the list. He is a long-time reliable player in the Indian domestic circuit and a national contender. Easwaran is therefore put in the auction register at the No. 360 with a starting price of ₹30 lakh.
The newly updated list also includes many foreign players. India’s keeper-batter Kyle Verreynne, who plays all formats, comes to the auction with the minimum bid of ₹1.25 crore. New Zealand speedster Ben Sears is for sure one of the most expensive late-comers at ₹1.50 crore. The list of players who get ₹75 lakh each includes Zimbabwean pacer Blessing Muzarabani, South African all-rounder Ethan Bosch, and Australian T20 specialist Chris Green. Meanwhile, the Malaysian player Virandeep Singh, who is an international player, is priced at ₹30 lakh.
A large domestic contingent has also been included at the last moment. Players such as Manisankar Murasingh (Tripura), Swastik Chikara (Uttar Pradesh), Chama Milind (Hyderabad), K.L. Shrijith (Karnataka), Rahul Raj Namala (Chhattisgarh), Virat Singh (Jharkhand), Tripuresh Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Rajesh Mohanty and Swastik Samal (Odisha), Saransh Jain (Madhya Pradesh), Sooraj Sangaraju (Andhra), and Tanmay Agarwal (Hyderabad) have all been added with a base price of ₹30 lakh each.
Interestingly, nine of the newly added players — including Murasingh, Chikara and Bosch — had appeared briefly on the auction list earlier before being withdrawn. They have now been reinstated following renewed requests from franchises.
The auction register has been increased to 369 players now, so the franchises can sign a total of 77 cricketers together, but only if all the teams fill their complete 25-player squad limit. The late changes not only made more choices available in the pool but also brought in a factor of uncertainty in the auction which is going to be held with the intense scrutiny and anticipation around it.
