The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction will feature 350 players as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) arrived at the number after several discussions with the ten franchises. The auction will be held in Abu Dhabi on December 16 at 2:30 IST in the afternoon. The board had circulated an initial list of 1355 players before adding 35 names that were not part of it at the start. 

The BCCI has stated that the player auction will commence with a full round of capped players in the following order: Batters, all-rounders, wicket-keeper/batters, fast bowlers, and spin bowlers, followed by a full round of uncapped players.

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The talk of the town, premier all-rounder of Australia, Cameron Green, is expected to be in high demand and quite surprisingly slotted in the first list of the batters along with Devon Conway, Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGhie, Sarfaraz Khan, and David Miller. Another vital player, Venkatesh Iyer, has been put in the first round of the all-rounders’ category.

IPL 2026 auction date, time, and registered players 

The 10 IPL franchises have a collective purse of INR 237.55 crore for the auction, with the Kolkata Knight Riders being the richest of all with a purse of INR 64.30 crore. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) remain at the second position with INR 43.40 crore being available as there are 77 slots to fill, including 31 overseas positions.

“For your planning purposes, please note, subject to timings, it is envisaged that the accelerated process will start after player No. 70. The first accelerated process will cover all the players from 71-350. Once these players have been presented, franchises will be requested to submit the names of the players (unpresented and unsold) from all those on the full list of 350 for further accelerated presentation, " an official from BCCI stated. 

As of now, some notable players like Glenn Maxwell and Andre Russell have announced their retirements from the IPL, while Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali have decided to put the curtains down to move towards the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for the 2026 edition.