The IPL 2026 mini-auction for MI will take place on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. MI has a total budget of 2.75 crore to fill 5 slots, with 1 being filled with an overseas player and 4 being filled with domestic players.
MI has already retained a core group of 5 players, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.
The MI franchise released 4 players from last year’s roster as a result of this, all of whom played a critical role in MI’s success this past season: Pacers Reece Topley and Lizaad Williams; Indian Spinner Karn Sharma; and Domestic Pacer Vignesh Puthur. Based on these player releases, it is clear that MI’s areas of need are Overseas Pacer (1), Indian Spin (1), Wicket Keeper Depth(1) and Domestic Fast Bowling Depth (1).
Targeted Substitutes for the Equilibrium
Over-star buying is the MI focus, who look for role-wise specific buys in order to ease the budget limits and the presence of Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, and Deepak Chahar.
- Matt Henry (Foreign Pacer): He is the one who can take wickets in the middle-overs, and the prices set by the vendors for the sale of MI’s low purse after Topley-Williams being the exit makes him a perfect option for MI.
- Rahul Chahar (Indian Spinner): A former MI leg-spinning player, who knows the Wankhede’s demanding conditions very well, is the one to fill the void of variety alongside Mayank Markande.
- Aqib Nabi (Indian Pacer): MI has already trialled the left-arm swing bowler from J&K; hence, he is the ideal Arjun Tendulkar successor for powerplay breakthroughs at low cost.
- Prithvi Shaw (Opener/WK Backup): The aggressive top-order batter would be a good pick if Ryan Rickelton falters; besides, the keeping depth added by Robin Minz still would not be much.
- Simarjeet Singh (Indian Pacer): The pace unit would be of Shardul Thakur and injury-prone Chahar, along with the reliable domestic seamer, to be bolstered by Simarjeet Singh.
Auction Strategy
Having 20 players already in their squad, MI will focus on disciplined and impactful uncapped talents for the top-four push and will avoid bidding wars.
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