The IPL 2026 auction will be held on December 16: here are five big overseas names who could struggle to attract bids.
Steve Smith
The Australian legend has signed up for the IPL 2026 mini-auction, but his last stint as a player in the league came way back in 2021. Since then, he has gone unsold in the auction multiple times, and has even plied his trade as a commentator during the IPL. This time, Smith comes on the back of good T20 form, having scored 310 runs at a strike rate of 154.22, including making a BBL hundred at the start of the year. But with the T20 game evolving at a rapid pace, particularly since the introduction of the Impact Player in the IPL, teams might be reluctant to bid for an anchor-style overseas batter who may not have a lot to contribute in other dimensions.
Gus Atkinson
The England seamer was picked up by KKR for IPL 2024, but pulled out before the season as the ECB decided to manage his workload. Since then, he has made his Test debut and become a vital cog of England's seam-bowling unit in the longest format. While Atkinson has featured in their white-ball squads as well over the last couple of years, he hasn't found the kind of success he has in red-ball cricket. Given the host of overseas fast bowlers specialising in white-ball and T20 cricket available in the auction pool, it wouldn't be a surprise if Atkinson is overlooked.
Devon Conway
Conway had an impactful three seasons at the top for Chennai Super Kings before he was let go by the franchise ahead of this year's auction. While his overall IPL record is an impressive 1,080 runs at 43.20 and 139.72, Conway's T20 batting seems to have dropped off lately. This year, he has averaged 30.74 and struck at 122.78 from 30 knocks in all T20s. CSK themselves seemed to have moved on from an anchor-heavy approach at the top to a batting philosophy more suited to modern-day T20 cricket, meaning the chances of them buying Conway back at a cheaper price look bleak. Other teams would also be wary of blocking a slot for a declining overseas opener.
Josh Inglis
Inglis has become an all-format presence for Australia and also did well for Punjab Kings in the previous IPL season, scoring 278 runs from 11 games at 162.57. In a perfect world, he would have been one of the more sought-after overseas batters in this auction, especially given his additional wicketkeeping skills. But the Australian has announced that his availability for IPL 2026 will be restricted to just four matches, which will significantly dent his chances of being picked up in the auction. Not many teams would want to spend a fortune - and block an overseas slot - for a player available for only about one-fourth of the league stage.
Jake Fraser-McGurk
The third Australian on this list, Jake Fraser-McGurk took the IPL by storm in his debut season in 2024, smashing 330 runs at a strike rate of 234.04. He then had an almost equally steep fall next season, managing just 55 runs from six games at a strike rate of 105.77. Fraser-McGurk's ultra-aggressive approach makes him a player with an extremely high ceiling, but the frequency of his peaks has been uncomfortably low, indicated by a T20 career average of 20.34, which reads 19.41 in 2025. On top of that, the role he plays - that of a top-order dasher - will have enough other prospects for teams to be fine with letting Fraser-McGurk go.
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