The mini-auction for the 2026 IPL was held on December 16: Here are the rankings of all ten teams ahead of the season.
10. Rajasthan Royals
Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kwena Maphaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Shimron Hetmyer, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Sandeep Sharma, Sam Curran, Tushar Deshpande, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravi Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Aman Rao, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne and Kuldeep Sen.
In Jaiswal and Suryavanshi, the Rajasthan Royals have one of the most dangerous opening pairs, but the threat ends there. The rest of the batting line-up lacks depth and, barring Hetmyer, experience. Riyan and Jurel have blown hot and cold, while the new acquisition, Jadeja, is not a powerful striker in the death overs either. Their pace attack, led by Archer, Maphaka and Burger, is injury-prone, and a lot will depend on their spin duo of Bishnoi and Jadeja.
9. Gujarat Titans
Squad: Anuj Rawat, Gurnoor Brar, Glenn Phillips, Jos Buttler, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Kagiso Rabada, Manav Suthar, Sai Sudharsan, Mohammed Siraj, Nishant Sindhu, Shubman Gill, Arshad Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Tom Banton, Prasidh Krishna, Shahrukh Khan, Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Ashok Sharma, Prithvi Raj Yarra and Luke Wood.
Like last season, the Gujarat Titans fail to inspire on paper. Their top three, comprising Sai Sudharsan, Gill, and Buttler, will have to do the heavy lifting, as their middle order is likely to consist of Phillips (or Holder), Washington, Shahrukh, and Tewatia. The Indian-heavy pace attack can be expensive on their day, but GT have made it a habit of punching above their weight year after year.
8. Lucknow Super Giants
Squad: Abdul Samad, Akash Singh, Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Digvesh Rathi, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, M Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukul Choudhary, Mayank Yadav, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Mohammed Shami, Josh Inglis, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Anrich Nortje and Naman Tiwari.
Like the other teams below them in our rankings, Lucknow too are extremely top-heavy, with Marsh, Markram, Pooran and Pant in the top four. However, the batting tapers down as we move down the order, with Badoni, Samad and Shahbaz likely to slot in. The bowling line-up is fast and will be a nightmare for the opposition… only if they stay away from injuries!
7. Chennai Super Kings
Squad: MS Dhoni, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Sanju Samson, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Choudhary, Shivam Dube, Ayush Mhatre, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Dewald Brevis, Noor Ahmad, Akeal Hosein, Urvil Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma, Matt Henry, Aman Khan, Matthew Short, Rahul Chahar, Sarfaraz Khan and Zak Foulkes.
Chennai Super Kings have moved away from being called the “Dad’s Army” to picking a team of youngsters, with the highlights being the purchases of the uncapped duo of Veer and Kartik for INR 14.20 crore each. With Mhatre, Sarfaraz, Brevis and new signing Samson also in the ranks, along with Dube, they have more firepower than before, but navigating a team of youngsters will need immense man-management skills. But Dhoni has been a master at that. The overseas fast bowling attack has gaps, but Kamboj impressed in 2025.
6. Sunrisers Hyderabad
Squad: Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Smaran Ravichandran, Jaydev Unadkat, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Shivang Kumar, Salil Arora, Zeeshan Ansari, Krains Fuletra, Sakib Hassan, Liam Livingstone, Onkar Tarmale, Shivam Mavi, Amit Kumar, Jack Edwards and Praful Hinge.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have a power-packed batting line-up, starting with the duo of ‘Travishek’ at the top, and followed by Kishan, Reddy, Klaasen and new signing Livingstone. However, their bowling remains a worry. Barring Cummins, they will be relying on Unadkat, Harshal, and Mavi, all of whom can be expensive on their day. The lack of spinners is also a concern.
5. Kolkata Knight Riders
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Umran Malik, Ramandeep Singh, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Matheesha Pathirana, Sarthak Ranjan, Finn Allen, Kartik Tyagi, Daksh Kamra, Tejasvi Singh, Prashant Solanki, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Mustafizur Rahman, Tim Seifert and Akash Deep.
KKR had to replace Andre Russell, and it was no surprise that they went for Green, one of the best alternatives. KKR will have to find the best batting line-up and slot in players according to their best positions, something they erred in last season. In Narine and Varun, they have the strongest spin attacks, while Pathirana and Mustafizur are dangerous in the death. However, Eden Gardens is not known for helping the pacers in the IPL, so a lot will rest on the batting.
4. Punjab Kings
Squad: Harnoor Singh Pannu, Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nehal Wadhera, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Marco Jansen, Priyansh Arya, Xavier Bartlett, Marcus Stoinis, Pyla Avinash, Yash Thakur, Mitchell Owen, Shashank Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Musheer Khan, Shreyas Iyer, Ben Dwarshuis, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Cooper Connolly, Pravin Dubey and Vishal Nishad.
Punjab had little to do during the mini-auctions, after retaining their core from the 2025 season when they reached the finals. They added Dwarshuis to the fast bowling attack, which will be led by Arshdeep. Jansen has improved leaps since the last season, but their spin unit looks bare with hardly any support for Chahal. The batting line-up - the same as last season's - can be unstoppable on their day. The team will be led by Shreyas, who is the first skipper to lead three different franchises into the finals of the IPL.
3. Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Squad: Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood, Romario Shepherd, Rajat Patidar, Nuwan Thushara, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Rasikh Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Suyash Sharma, Satvik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Yash Dayal, Mangesh Yadav, Vihaan Malhotra, Jacob Duffy, Kanishk Chouhan and Vicky Ostwal.
Already a formidable side, RCB added Venkatesh to their line-up for the 2026 IPL. While he failed to live up to his price tag last season, he has been a consistent performer and had a strike rate of 158.79 with an average of 46.25 when KKR won the title in 2024. Mangesh, who impressed in the Madhya Pradesh Premier League, adds to an already strong bowling attack.
2. Mumbai Indians
Squad: Robin Minz, Allah Ghazanfar, Corbin Bosch, Rohit Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Sherfane Rutherford, Jasprit Bumrah, Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Markande, Raj Angad Bawa, Tilak Varma, Raghu Sharma, Will Jacks, Quinton de Kock, Shardul Thakur, Atharva Ankolekar, Danish Malewar, Trent Boult, Mayank Rawat and Mohammad Izhar.
Mumbai have quietly brought back most of the core from the title-winning 2019 squad. They already had four of the top T20I players from India in their squad, but the additions of de Kock, who has reversed his lean patch since his international comeback, further strengthen the batting. Bumrah and Boult with the new ball will be a treat to witness yet again. The only weak link could be the spin unit, where Santner has limited support.
1. Delhi Capitals
Squad: Abishek Porel, Dushmantha Chameera, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Mitchell Starc, Madhav Tiwari, KL Rahul, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Nitish Rana, T. Natarajan, Sameer Rizvi, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Auqib Nabi, David Miller, Kyle Jamieson, Ben Duckett, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh and Prithvi Shaw.
Delhi have all their bases covered: An opening pair of Duckett and Shaw is exciting, while Porel, Ashutosh, Stubbs and Miller add more firepower down the order. Rahul and Rana can arrest a collapse, while Nigam was one of the breakout all-rounders from last season. They may have Starc and Jamieson bowling in tandem with the new ball, and Kuldeep, along with Axar, in the middle overs. If all goes well, this could finally be their year.
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