IPL 2026 Auction: Top 5 Most Experienced Test Players in the Pool
IPL 2026 auction features top Test veterans like Steve Smith, Jonny Bairstow and India’s Umesh Yadav ahead of the Dubai event.
Experienced Test stars set to go under the hammer at the IPL 2026 auction.
The IPL 2026 mini auction is scheduled for December 16, and it will be the occasion where the talented core of players specializing in the red-ball format will be sold. At the top of this auction list are five players who can together bring a whopping Test cricket experience of a whole Indian era, thus elevating their status of the most skilled among the lot available this season.
Steve Smith (Australia)
Steve Smith, regarded as one of the best Test batsmen ever, has taken part in 121 Test matches and has amassed more than 10,000 runs for Australia. He is definitely not considering making a comeback to the league where he last played in IPL 2021, for Delhi Capitals. So far, he has played 101 matches in the IPL, accumulated 2,484 runs, and even scored a century to his name.
Base price: ₹2 crore
Jonny Bairstow (England)
The English wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow, who is nothing less than an explosion on the field, has completed 100 Tests so far and has amassed 6,042 runs during his red-ball cricket career for the world. He is a main player in IPL, where he has been playing for three franchises and has accumulated a total of 1,674 runs in 52 matches at an excellent strike rate of 146.
Base price: ₹1 crore
Kusal Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper batsman Kusal Mendis has played 73 Tests so far and has been acclaimed for his aggressive batting techniques in all formats. In T20 his strike rate is 137, which is accumulated over 194 matches. Mendis' involvement in IPL is very little as he participated only in one match for Gujarat Titans in the year 2025 where he made 20 runs off 10 balls.
Base price: ₹75 lakh
Jason Holder (West Indies)
West Indies cricket has an all-rounder Jason Holder with the Test experience of 69 matches where he scored over 3,000 runs and took 150 plus wickets. Though his T20 record is good overall, his IPL performance has not been so great with 53 wickets and 259 runs in 46 matches for 5 different teams.
Base price: ₹2 crore
Umesh Yadav (India)
The number one fast bowler of India Umesh Yadav finishes the list having played 57 Test matches and taken 170 wickets, most of them on the difficult pitches of the subcontinent. He has been a regular in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has taken a total of 148 wickets from playing 144 matches in his league career.
Base price: ₹1.5 crore
The auction is to be conducted in Dubai and the franchises are going to balance between experience and current form as the players are going to seek contracts for the IPL 2026 season.
