Abu Dhabi set to host IPL 2026 auction on December 16

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction is all set to be held in Abu Dhabi on December 16. This will be the third consecutive year in which the IPL auction will be held overseas.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, hosted a mini-auction ahead of IPL 2024. Meanwhile, the 2025 mega-auction, which was a two-day affair, was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Franchises have to first sort the list of players they want to release and retain from their squads from last season by 3 pm IST on November 15. After that, they will be sent a registered pool of players to shortlist. That long list will then be pruned for IPL to finalise the auction pool.

It is important to note that the trading window opened after the 2025 edition of the cash-rich league. It will continue until a week before the auction and then resume to go on until a month before the start of IPL 2026. Meanwhile, the 10 franchises will not be allowed to trade a player who will be bought at the 2026 auction.

Only two trades have been officially revealed so far. Experienced India all-rounder Shardul Thakur has moved from Lucknow Super Giants to Mumbai Indians for INR 2 crore. The five-time champions have also roped in West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford from the Gujarat Titans for INR 2.6 crore.

More player swaps and trades are expected to be announced over the next couple of days. One of the biggest announcements is expected to involve the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals. As per reports, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran are headed to the inaugural champions in exchange for Sanju Samson. Fans are waiting with bated breath to find out which players will be released and the ones who will be retained on November 15.

The tentative window for IPL 2026 is March 15 to May 31. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are the defending champions, having won their first-ever title, beating Punjab Kings in the summit clash earlier this year at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

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