IPL 2026 Auction: What’s the Schedule for This Year’s Auction?
IPL 2026 Auction schedule announced: Find out when the player draft takes place in Abu Dhabi, key slots, teams, and top prospects to watch this year.
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Abu Dhabi is the place where the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction will take place on December 16, which will be in line with the practice of conducting the player draft outside India. The UAE is once again the venue after Dubai in 2024 and Jeddah in 2025, where the 10 franchises will have to fill up a total of 77 squad positions among them.
The teams will work with a joint budget of Rs. 237.55 crore, planning to appoint the famous signings plus the rising stars. The oldest player in the auction pool is Jalaj Saxena, the veteran all-rounder of 39 years, while the youngest participant is the 18-year-old Afghanistan’s Wahidullah Zadran, who will be providing teams with the opposite options of experience and potential.
Some prominent international stars like Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis have already informed the IPL that they will not be playing in the 2026 edition. The non-participation of the international stars will be a good chance for the domestic players, un-capped talent, and new global prospects to lock in high-value contracts.
It is being predicted that the franchises will concentrate on the specialized T20 roles, such as finishers, power hitters, and death-over bowlers. While the maximum number of players in a squad is 25, bidding wars for the domestic players in form and young internationals who have impressed in the recent seasons will be very likely.
