BCCI makes last-minute changes to IPL 2026 auction list as 9 new players get added

Nine new players were added to the current Player List on Tuesday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the Indian Premier League 2026 auction, which is set to take place in Abu Dhabi the following week. The board had released a list of 350 players who had been selected from over 1300 registrations earlier in the day. A few hours later, the BCCI published an updated list with nine more names, bringing the total to 359.

Swastik Chikara, an uncapped batter who was a member of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team that won the IPL in 2025, is the most notable of the newcomers. Given his recent success in the Uttar Pradesh T20 League, Chikara's exclusion from the original list was unexpected.

Among the new acquisitions are IPL winner Swastik Chikara, who was recently released by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Virandeep Singh, the sole player from an Associate nation (Malaysia) in this year's auction pool. The other seven new players are Manisankar Murasingh, an all-rounder from Tripura; Chama Milind from Hyderabad; K.L. Shrijith from Karnataka; Ethan Bosch from South Africa; Chris Green from Australia; Rahul Raj Namala from Uttarakhand; and Virat Singh from Jharkhand.

Only 77 of the 359 players on the final auction list—247 Indians and 112 foreigners—will land a new IPL contract, with 31 of them being foreign players. With 13 spots to fill, the Kolkata Knight Riders have the largest purse at INR 64.30 crore, followed by the Chennai Super Kings at INR 43.4 crore. There are nine open positions.

Three foreign players have been added: Malaysian wicketkeeper Virandeep Singh, South African bowler Eathan Bosch, and Australian all-rounder Chris Green. It's interesting to note that Eathan Bosch is the brother of Corbin Bosch, a South African all-rounder signed by MI for the 2026 Indian Premier League. The sole player from an associate nation to appear in the IPL 2026 auction will be Virandeep.

The IPL 2026 mini-auction is likely not to have a marquee set, instead directly beginning with a set of capped batters, according to a report by Cricbuzz.

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