IPL Auction: Not 1355 — only 350 players will go under the hammer on December 16

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed a final list of 350 players for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, which will take place on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The number was arrived at after extensive discussions with franchises, reducing the pool from the initial list of 1,355 names.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Among the 35 new additions to the final list, South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock stands out as a surprise entry. De Kock was not part of the original document but was later included following a recommendation from a franchise. His addition comes soon after he reversed his international retirement and scored a century in the ODI against India in Visakhapatnam, as reported by Cricbuzz.

The 33-year-old has a base price of INR 1 crore, which is half of what Knight Riders paid for him at the previous mega auction when he was signed for INR 2 crore. After an unimpressive season, the franchise released him ahead of this auction. He will now appear in the third lot assigned to wicketkeeper-batters.A few Sri Lankan cricketers have also made it to the updated roster, including Traveen Mathew, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera and Dunith Wellalage.

"The auction will feature 350 players and will commence at 1 pm UAE time (2.30 PM IST) on Tuesday, 16 December, at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi," the BCCI informed franchises in a mail sent on Monday night.The auction format will begin with capped players separated by role categories — batters, all-rounders, wicket keeper/batters, fast bowlers, and spin bowlers — and then move to uncapped players under the same classification.Cameron Green leads the first lot of batters (BA1), accompanied by Devon Conway, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sarfaraz Khan, Prithvi Shaw and David Miller. Venkatesh Iyer has been placed in the second lot of all-rounders (AL1).As per the schedule, the accelerated phase of the event is expected to begin after Player No. 70, who is Afghanistan’s Wahidullah Zadran."The first accelerated 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," the BCCI clarified in its communication.The finalised list reflects the teams’ requests on which names they wanted in the auction pool, with multiple new faces also earning a late entry.NEW INCLUSIONS:OVERSEAS PLAYERS: Arab Gul (Afghanistan), Miles Hammond (England), Dan Lategan (England), Quinton de Kock (South Africa) Connor Eztherhuizen (South Africa), George Linde (South Africa), Bayanda Majola (South Africa), Traveen Mathew (Sri Lanka), Binura Fernando (Sri Lanka), Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka), Dunith Wellalage (Sri Lanka), Akeem Auguste (West Indies).INDIAN PLAYERS: Sadek Hussain, Vishnu Solanki, Sabir Khan, Brijesh Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Aaron George, Jikku Bright, Srihari Nair, Madhav Bajaj, Shreevathsa Acharya, Yashraj Punja, Sahil Parakh, Roshan Waghsare, Yash Dicholkar, Ayaz Khan, Dhurmil Matkar, Naman Pushpak, Parikshit Valsangkar, Purav Agarwal, Rishabh Chouhan, Sagar Solanki, Izaz Sawariya and Aman Shekawat.