The 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction will take place on December 16, 2025. The event will be held in Abu Dhabi. This will be the third straight year that the IPL auction happens outside India. The shift to overseas venues began in 2024.
The 2024 auction was held in Dubai. The 2025 mega auction then took place in Jeddah in November 2024. But the 2026 event will be a mini-auction. It will be completed in one single day.
Retention Deadline Nears for all IPL 2026 Teams
Before the auction, all ten teams must submit their retention lists. This list will show the players they want to keep and the players they will release. The deadline for this is 3:00 PM IST on November 15.
Once the lists are submitted, the IPL governing council will share a registered pool of players. Franchises will study this long list.
They will then pick names they are interested in. From this, the final auction pool will be created. The trading window opened right after the 2025 season ended.
It will remain open until one week before the 2026 auction. It will then close for a short time. After the auction, it will reopen and will stay active until one month before the IPL 2026 season begins.
Teams cannot trade any player purchased in the 2025 auction cycle. So far, four trades have been confirmed.
These trades involve five different franchises. The biggest one is a historic swap. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have signed India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals (RR). In return, RR have received two star all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. This move gives RR more balance in their team.
On November 13, Mumbai Indians (MI) also made important moves. They signed Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 2 crore. They also signed West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford from Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 2.60 crore.
In another deal, MI traded Arjun Tendulkar to LSG. He moved at his base price of INR 30 lakh. The tentative window for the IPL 2026 season is from March 15 to May 31. Teams are now preparing for another busy auction day.
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