The IPL 2026 mini-auction will take place on 16 December 2025 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This is a one-day mini-auction, scheduled to start around 3:00 PM IST, with all ten franchises filling the remaining gaps in their squads for IPL 2026. This will be the third straight year that the IPL auction is hosted outside India, after Dubai and Jeddah in previous years.
Teams, Purse, And Players
More than 1,300 players have registered for the IPL 2026 mini-auction, making it one of the largest pools ever for a so-called “mini” event. The pool includes 1,355 registered players, with 45 names in the highest base-price bracket of ₹2 crore. Kolkata Knight Riders reportedly enter with the biggest purse (around ₹64.3 crore), while some teams like Mumbai Indians have very limited amounts left to spend.
Where To Watch IPL 2026 Auction Live
The IPL 2026 auction will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network in India, across key sports channels such as Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 2 (SD/HD) and their language feeds. For online streaming, fans in India will be able to watch the auction live on JioCinema / JioHotstar–type official IPL streaming platforms, with coverage also expected via the official IPL digital channels and YouTube highlights after the event.
For fans in India, watching the IPL 2026 auction live will be easy. The entire event will be shown on the Star Sports Network on major sports channels in multiple languages, giving TV viewers wall-to-wall coverage from the first gavel to the last bid. For digital-first audiences, the auction will be live streamed on official IPL streaming partners such as JioCinema / JioHotstar, with clips, highlights, and analysis later available on the IPL’s official website and YouTube channels.