The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has significantly pruned the player list for the IPL 2026 mini-auction, reducing the original pool of 1,355 names to 350 after multiple rounds of consultations with franchises. 
The updated list includes 35 surprise entrants not featured in the initial spreadsheet circulated to teams.
The auction will be held on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, beginning at 1 pm local time (2:30 pm IST), the board informed franchises on Monday night.
Among the unexpected additions, the most notable is South African wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock. 
Absent from the preliminary list, he was added in the third lot of keeper-batters following a franchise request.&nbsp;
De Kock, 33, recently ended his international retirement and struck a century in Visakhapatnam, bolstering interest in him. 
He enters the auction with a base price of INR 1 crore, half of his previous tag at the mega auction where Kolkata Knight Riders had bought him for INR 2 crore before releasing him.
Other fresh overseas entrants include Sri Lankan cricketers Traveen Mathew, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera and Dunith Wellalage, along with Afghanistan&rsquo;s Arab Gul and West Indies&rsquo; Akeem Auguste.
The domestic list has also expanded to feature additional names such as Vishnu Solanki, Sadek Hussain, Parikshit Valsangkar, Izaz Sawariya and several others.
As per the auction format, the proceedings will begin with capped players categorised by roles, batters, all-rounders, wicketkeeper-batters, fast bowlers and spinners, followed by uncapped players in the same structure. 
The opening BA1 batch includes Cameron Green, Devon Conway, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Prithvi Shaw and David Miller. 
Venkatesh Iyer features in the AL1 all-rounders grouping.
The accelerated phase of the auction is tentatively scheduled to begin after the 70th player, a position occupied by Afghanistan&rsquo;s Wahidullah Zadran. 
Players numbered 71 to 350 will go under the hammer in the first acceleration round, after which franchises may propose unsold or unpresented players for an additional rapid bidding phase.
New Inclusions in IPL 2026 Auction
Overseas: Arab Gul, Miles Hammond, Dan Lategan, Quinton de Kock, Connor Eztherhuizen, George Linde, Bayanda Majola, Traveen Mathew, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera, Dunith Wellalage, Akeem Auguste.
Indian: 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, Aman Shekawat.
Further updates on the auction proceedings are expected closer to the event date.

South Africa's Quinton de Kock is back in IPL auction

IPL 2026 auction list trimmed to 350 players, with 35 surprise additions included

BCCI Finalises IPL 2026 Auction List At 350

IPL 2026 auction list trimmed to 350 players, with 35 surprise additions included

December 9, 2025 | 16:44 IST