Australia batsman Josh Inglis, who was scheduled to participate in just four IPL games next year, may play more games after receiving a high bid from the Lucknow Super Giants in the most recent players’ auction. This has caused concern in both the BCCI and his former team, the Punjab Kings.
Despite their desire to retain Inglis, the Punjab Kings released him prior to the auction because of his restricted availability. The BCCI made it very clear in its pre-auction correspondence to the ten clubs that Inglis will only be available for four IPL 2026 games due to his marriage.
The IPL Governing Council and the BCCI are currently keeping a careful eye on the situation because it’s thought he might change his personal schedule to accommodate IPL obligations.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Lucknow Super Giants engaged in a bidding war for the 30-year-old, with the former acquiring him for Rs 8.6 crore—Rs 6 crore more than his prior fee agreement with Punjab.
The entire incident has sparked debate about whether Inglis exploited the circumstances, and the IPL Governing Council and the BCCI may need to investigate.
“The communication was clear (about Inglis’ availability for IPL 2026), but we need to check whether anything has changed about his personal plans, or whether those teams knew about his personal plans much more than others,” a PTI report quoted a source, close to the developments, as saying.
The source added that Punjab Kings have not yet filed a formal complaint.
Inglis would have missed a significant portion of the IPL 2026, which starts on March 26, due to his planned April 18 wedding and subsequent honeymoon vacation.
There are a lot of Australians in the dugouts of both Lucknow and Sunrisers.
The current Australian captain Pat Cummins is in charge of SRH, while Justin Langer and Tom Moody are the coach and director of the LSG.
Even the head coach of SRH, Daniel Vettori, has been the Australian men’s team’s assistant coach since 2022. The clubs in question, however, did not immediately respond.
“He was going to be out for personal reasons but that’s always subject to change. You never know people can make different decisions once the auction is done. So, we thought that with the relationship Dan and him have, he could maybe convince him to play a few extra games,” SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron had said after the auction.
Inglis, however, stated that he learned of his new IPL contract long after the auction was over.
“I don’t have full availability this year (IPL 2026). I’m getting married in early April. So, I didn’t really expect to go. So, I sort of saw my name go by unsold.”
“I was like ‘alright stuff this, I’m going to bed’ and I need to switch on for tomorrow (Ashes) and then woke up to the news. I didn’t know until I’d seen a few messages this morning,” Inglis told ABC Sport after the second day of the third Ashes Test against England at Adelaide.
During the 2025 Indian Premier League, Inglis was employed as a disruptor, scoring 278 runs at a strike rate of 163 in 11 games.
He helped PBKS advance to the final by scoring 73 off 42 balls against the Mumbai Indians and then 38 off 21 balls in Qualifier 2.
