Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, New Zealand fast bowler Ben Sears and South Africa’s Ethan Bosch were among 19 late additions to the player list for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, organisers said on Monday.
Easwaran, who was part of India’s squad for the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy but is yet to make his international debut, joins Bosch, who has played one one-day international for South Africa, and Sears, who has featured in one test and four ODIs for New Zealand. Bosch is the younger brother of South Africa all-rounder Corbin Bosch.
The expanded list also includes Malaysia’s Virandeep Singh, Australia’s Chris Green, South Africa’s Kyle Verreynne and Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani. Several uncapped Indian players have also been added, including Kerala wicketkeeper-batter K L Shrijith. The additions take the total number of players in the auction pool to 369.
The IPL 2026 auction will be held in Abu Dhabi today, marking the third consecutive year the event has taken place outside India after Dubai in 2024 and Jeddah in 2025. A total of 77 slots are available across the 10 franchises, including 31 for overseas players. Kolkata Knight Riders have the most vacancies with 13, followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad with 10.
From an initial longlist of 1,355 players, 359 were shortlisted, comprising 244 Indians and 115 overseas players. Forty players have entered the auction at the highest base price of 2 crore rupees, with Ravi Bishnoi and Venkatesh Iyer the only Indians in that category.
Australia all-rounder Cameron Green is expected to attract strong bidding, with England’s Liam Livingstone and Jamie Smith, New Zealand pacer Matt Henry, wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, South Africa batter David Miller and Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana also likely to draw interest from multiple teams.
-IANS
