IPL 2026 Abu Dhabi Auction: How Teams Will Compete Without RTM Cards

With less than a day until the Mini-Player Auction for the Indian Premier League IPL 2026, the debate among fans and franchises revolved around whether the Right to Match Card is to be applicable or not. What is the final answer? It is clear now that the RTM cards will not be available at the upcoming auction..

The IPL 2026 Rather Auction will take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16 and the event will be hosted by Abu Dhabi now for the third consecutive time outside India. After a mega IPL auction with flashbulb zeal across two days, the league has returned to the mini structure at the 2026 auction. At the same time, franchises reset their squads to fine-tune them.

Minor auctions result in strategic player selection.

The franchises until November 15 finalized their retained player lists as Mumbai may take call again. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have notably reshuffled the cards in their house and consequently made huge purses.

The starting ramifications could be dramatic, depending on how aggressive some teams are compared to others that have needs.

RTM cards will not be used in the IPL auction of 2026

The Right to Match (RTM) cards will not have been used this time by the IPL GC.

The RTM card is only used in mega auctions since the present version gets restricted in the number of player retentions too. Thus, the competitive reset across the league is preserved.

Debuted before IPL 2014 mega auction, the RTM rule permitted franchises to exercise their right to reclaim a player whom they had released during the last auction by matching the auction table's highest bid. The rule remained active during the 2018 mega auction, was soon revoked ahead of the season from 2022. Each franchise had up to six immediate retentions or retentions by means of RTMs for the last mega auction cycle, indeed leading to different retention strategies.

Alternatively, mini auctions follow a system whereby entire rosters can be retained, as there is no limit here and no reason for RTM cards to exist. Thus, RTM cards cannot be exercised for a player who has already previously been dropped in Abu Dhabi.

So, what will define the approach leading teams to the IPL 2026 mega auction?

When there is no provision of holding RTM cards, the franchise strategies will revolve around:

• Effective pursuant management
• Focused player acquisition
• Spotting weaknesses in the competing teams
• Clearly being strategical in auctions without any scope to pick up the players at a later stage

This is expected to create more intense bidding wars, especially during the auction, and with the deep pockets of several teams with multiple empty slots.

The IPL 2026 mini auction: Lookout for the left-over purse and empty slots:

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

• Purse available: ₹64.3 crore
• Empty slots: 13

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

• Purse available: ₹43.4 crore
• Empty slots: 9

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

• Purse available: ₹25.5 crore
• Empty slots: 10

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

• Purse available: ₹22.95 crore
• Empty slots: 6

Delhi Capitals (DC)

• Purse available: ₹21.8 crore
• Empty slots: 8

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

• Purse available: ₹16.4 crore
• Empty slots: 8

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

• Purse available: ₹16.05 crore
• Empty slots: 9

Gujarat Titans (GT)

• Purse available: ₹12.9 crore
• Empty slots: 5

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

• Purse available: ₹11.5 crore
• Empty slots: 4

Mumbai Indians (MI)

• Purse available: ₹2.75 crore
• Empty slots: 5

Final thought

IPL 2026 mini auction is characterized by immense purses, limited slots, and no right-to-match cards, thereby promising a fair dose of calculated risk, frenetic bidding, and strategic squad-making. December 16 will be a long day and all eyes will be glued on Abu Dhabi, where franchises will have to forego safety nets and make their future.