At next month’s mini IPL auction, which will take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are predicted to start fierce bidding battles with the top purses among the ten teams.
Despite trading Sanju Samson, CSK has freed up Rs 40 crore by letting go of a number of players, while KKR enters the auction with a purse of Rs 63.4 crore after releasing big non-performing assets in Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore) and Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore).
While CSK will probably update their bowling attack and try to purchase back Matheesha Pathirana or target Ben Stokes to restore balance, if he is available after the Ashes, KKR will be trying to rebuild their team from the ground up.
Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi are among the core group of players that KKR has retained despite the release of Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer and Anrich Nortje. 13 slots are available for KKR, six of which are overseas.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and keeper-batter Sanju Samson were previously moved to the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings, respectively.
Samson, who has captained RR for four seasons, will wear the yellow CSK jersey in IPL 2026, while CSK mainstay Jadeja has moved base to Rajasthan Royals, albeit at a somewhat lower sum, as the deadline for player retention ends later on Sunday.
Samson will play for CSK at his current fee of Rs 18 crore, but Jadeja’s IPL fee has been revised from Rs 18 crore to Rs 14 crore, according to an IPL media advisory on Saturday.
Samson, one of the IPL’s most seasoned players, has participated in 177 league games; CSK is just his third team. Since making his IPL debut in 2013, he has played for RR in all except two seasons (2016 and 2017).
After a successful deal, England all-rounder Sam Curran will go from CSK to RR at his current fee of Rs 2.4 crore.
Pace-bowling stalwart Mohammed Shami is set to join Lucknow Super Giants after being traded from Sunrisers Hyderabad. He will link up with his new franchise at his existing fee of Rs 10 crore. The seasoned bowler had a great season in the Gujarat Titans’ 2023 title-winning campaign, taking 20 wickets, despite missing the 2024 season due to injuries.
All-rounder Nitish Rana will play for the Delhi Capitals after being traded from Rajasthan Royals for his current fee of Rs 4.2 crore, while Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar will also wear the LSG colors after joining from the Mumbai Indians at his current fee of Rs 30 lakh.
After being traded from Delhi Capitals for a revised sum of Rs 1 crore, South African keeper-batter Donovan Ferreira will rejoin his original team, the Rajasthan Royals.
The two most prominent players released by the Delhi Capitals are Jake Fraser-McGurk and Faf du Plessis. Mohit Sharma, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, and Darshan Nalkande are the other players who have been released.
Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, and Tristan Stubbs are among the players DC kept from its fifth-place performance the previous season. Nitish Rana was also acquired by the Delhi Capitals in exchange for Donovan Ferreira, who moved to RR.
Five players—Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Dasun Shanaka, and Mahipal Lomror—were released by the Gujarat Titans, who also traded Sherfane Rutherford to the Mumbai Indians.
Among the well-known players released by CSK are Devon Conway of New Zealand, Rachin Ravindra, R Ashwin, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, and Matheesha Pathrirana.
Eight players have been released by Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa, and Rahul Chahar being the most notable. Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, and Praveen Dubey are the five players the Punjab Kings have released.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Indians have released nine players, the most noteworthy of which are Reece Topley, Karn Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, and Vignesh Puthur. The three well-known players released by the Lucknow Super Giants are David Miller, Ravi Bishnoi, and Akashdeep.
The mini-auction will now include all of the released players.
The purse remaining with the teams ahead of the mini-auction are Chennai Super Kings (Rs 43.40 crore), Mumbai Indians (Rs 2.75 crore), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Rs 16.40 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 64.30 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Rs 25.50 crore), Gujarat Titans (Rs 12.90 crore), Rajasthan Royals (Rs 16.05 crore), Delhi Capitals (Rs 21.80 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (Rs 22.95 crore), Punjab Kings (Rs 11.50 crore).
