The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini auction is taking place on December 16 2025, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The one-day auction – which takes place once every year – will see some renowned players go under the hammer as well, including Cameron Green, Venkatesh Iyer, and Liam Livingstone, who are in the auction. They were expected to fetch a considerable sum at the auction.
Meanwhile, three-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be there with the biggest purse of ₹64.3 crore. However, the 10 teams need to fill up 77 slots with a total purse of ₹237.55 crore and among them as well.
Here are the players the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) retained before the mega auction.
Before Auction
Retained Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Purse remaining: ₹64.30 crore
Slots remaining: 13 (6 overseas)
During Auction
#1 Cameron Green
The auction room erupted into chaos as the Mumbai Indians opened the bidding for Cameron Green at his base price of ₹2 crore, with the Rajasthan Royals immediately jumping into the fray. Kolkata Knight Riders soon joined at ₹2.8 crore, setting the stage for a fierce three-way battle. The momentum shifted rapidly as Green’s price soared past ₹10 crore within minutes, reflecting the premium teams were willing to pay for the Australian all-rounder.
Rajasthan stayed aggressive, but KKR refused to back down. Just when RR bowed out at ₹13.8 crore, Chennai Super Kings entered unexpectedly, pushing the bid beyond ₹20 crore. In a dramatic finish, KKR landed Green for a record-breaking ₹25.20 crore.
#2 Finn Allen
After a long wait, DC decided to raise the paddle for Finn Allen, and they managed to steal him for just at his base price of ₹2 crore.
#3 Matheesha Pathirana
Matheesha Pathirana entered the IPL auction with a base price of ₹2 crore, quickly attracting interest from Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. A fierce bidding war followed, with the price skyrocketing to ₹15 crore as both franchises pushed hard for the Sri Lankan pacer. Delhi eventually backed out, opening the door for Kolkata Knight Riders to step in. KKR went head-to-head with LSG and, in a decisive move, secured Pathirana for ₹18 crore, strengthening their death-overs bowling arsenal.
#4 Tejasvi Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders bought Tejasvi Singh for ₹3 Crore!
#5 Kartik Tyagi – ₹30 Lakh
#6 Prashant Solanki – ₹30 Lakh
#7 Rahul Tripathi – ₹75 lacs
#8 Tim Seifert – ₹1.5 Crore
#9 Mustafizur Rahman
Delhi Capitals and CSK engaged in a bidding war for Mutafizure Rehman, but KKR came midway after DC left out, then CSK took it to ₹9 crore from teh base price of ₹2 crore, but KKR eventually grabbed him for 9.2 crore.
