IPL 2026 auction at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi has ignited fierce bidding wars, with franchises splashing over ₹237 crore across 77 slots for 369 players. Kolkata Knight Riders led the spending with their massive ₹64.3 crore purse, securing two top buys early, while Chennai Super Kings stunned with high investments in uncapped talents. Surprise packages like unknown domestic stars fetching crore-plus deals have overshadowed some established names, signalling a shift toward youth and potential.​

Cameron Green shatters record with multi-million deal at IPL 2026 auction

The headline story so far is KKR smashing the ceiling for Cameron Green, outbidding multiple franchises to land the Australian all‑rounder for ₹25.20 crore and making him the costliest overseas buy in IPL history. The move signals a tactical shift, with KKR clearly viewing Green as a three‑dimensional cornerstone who can bat in the top order, bowl with pace through the middle and finish games, replacing years of patchwork in their balance with one premium package.​

Another major shock has been CSK’s decision to go aggressively after uncapped Indian talent, dishing out ₹14.20 crore each for top‑order batter Kartik Sharma and all‑rounder Prashant Veer, both signed from a base of just ₹30 lakh. For a franchise long associated with backing experience and continuity, staking nearly ₹30 crore on two relatively unknown domestic players underlines how strongly their scouting group rates this new generation.​

Among the most emotional subplots is the rise of Jammu & Kashmir all‑rounder Auqib Nabi, who turned a ₹30 lakh base into an ₹8.40 crore jackpot with Delhi Capitals after a fierce four‑way bidding war. His selection reflects the premium on Indian seam‑bowling all‑rounders and continues the trend of IPL auctions unearthing stories from India’s cricketing hinterland. Gujarat Titans’ late swoop for Jason Holder at ₹7 crore, and Rajasthan Royals’ calculated outlay of ₹7.20 crore on out‑of‑favour leg‑spinner Ravi Bishnoi, further highlight how teams are still willing to pay top dollar for specific skill-sets even when form curves are uneven.​

Top 10 most expensive buys of IPL 2026 auction

Also READ: IPL 2026 Auction: Here’s why Cameron Green will receive only INR 18 crore even though KKR bought him for INR 25.2 crore

From left, this combo of file pictures shows cricketers Prashant Veer, Auqib Nabi Dar and Kartik Sharma. (PTI)

The IPL 2026 player auction began with limited action in the uncapped players’ category before Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma were signed by Chennai Super Kings for Rs 14.20 crore each, setting a new record for uncapped players.The uncapped batters’ category opened the auction, but all six players listed went unsold. The group included Aarya Desai, Yash Dhull, Abhinav Manohar, Anmolpreet Singh, Atharva Taide and Abhinav Tejrana.

The next major development came with Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Auqib Dar, who was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 8.4 crore. Delhi Capitals outbid Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and SunRisers Hyderabad to secure the player.Prashant Veer followed, with multiple teams entering the bidding before Chennai Super Kings secured him. Along with Kartik Sharma, Veer became the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history at the mini auction for the 2026 season held at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.Both players entered the auction at a base price of Rs 30 lakh, with CSK paying Rs 14.20 crore each. Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Prashant Veer’s price rose significantly as CSK competed with Rajasthan Royals early in the bidding and SunRisers Hyderabad later to sign the 20-year-old left-arm spinner and middle-order batter.Veer is set to make his IPL debut. He came into focus after playing for Noida Super Kings in the UP T20 League and has since played domestic cricket. In 12 T20 matches, he has scored 112 runs at a strike rate of 167.16 and taken 12 wickets in nine innings at an economy rate of 6.45. His performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy added to his profile, with CSK identifying him as a long-term option in the squad.Soon after, CSK signed Rajasthan batter Kartik Sharma for the same amount of Rs 14.20 crore following bidding involving Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders.Kartik has scored 334 runs in 12 T20 matches at a strike rate of 164, including 28 sixes, and featured among the leading six-hitters in the Ranji Trophy. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy league stage, he scored 133 runs in five matches at a strike rate above 160. Across his 12-match T20 career, he has maintained a strike rate above 160.Top 5 Indian uncapped players in IPL auction 2026

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sales declined by over 4 per cent in early December, driven by IndiGo‘s widespread flight cancellations, according to preliminary industry data released on Tuesday. The aviation sector in India had shown steady growth in jet fuel demand for two years following recovery from Covid-related disruptions. However, this pattern shifted when IndiGo experienced extensive cancellations due to new pilot duty-time regulations, staff shortages and winter weather conditions.The airline cancelled approximately 5,000 flights, including more than 1,600 from their usual 2,300 daily flights during peak disruption. Services returned to normal over the weekend.

Data showed ATF sales fell to 331,400 tonnes during December 1 to 15, compared to 345,400 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The sales decreased by 7.2 per cent month-on-month, as reported by PTI.While jet fuel declined, other major fuels demonstrated strong growth. Diesel consumption, representing about 40 per cent of India’s fuel usage, increased by nearly 5 per cent to 3.3 million tonnes during December 1-15, although month-on-month sales decreased by 5.5 per cent post-festive season.Compared to 3.16 million tonnes consumption during December 1-15, 2023, diesel demand rose by 4.4 per cent. The increase was 15.2 per cent against 2.87 million tonnes sales in early December 2022.Petrol usage in early December increased by 7.7 per cent to 1.33 million tonnes. Sales were up 8.4 per cent compared to December 1-15, 2023, and showed a 24.7 per cent increase from 1.06 million tonnes in early December 2022. Monthly consumption declined by 5.1 per cent.LPG sales increased by 15.1 per cent to 1.55 million tonnes during December 1-15, driven by domestic cooking requirements. The demand rose by 4.4 per cent month-on-month compared to 1.49 million tonnes sold in early November.The PMUY scheme expanded to include 2.5 million additional households, increasing total coverage from 103.3 million to 105.8 million households.

Rejected at last year’s IPL auction, Tejasvi Singh Dahiya rebuilt himself under a harsh, gurukul-style training regime in Bhopal. Son of two schoolteachers and armed with a fearless batting mindset, the Delhi batter’s Rs 3 crore KKR deal now offers him a chance to turn sacrifice, discipline and six-hitting flair into an IPL breakthrough.

NEW DELHI: Tejasvi Singh Dahiya was shattered after his name came up twice at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction last year, only to find no bidders.A disappointed Dahiya then received a call from his coach Sanjay Bharadwaj — a hard taskmaster and one of the doyens of the domestic circuit, who has coached the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Amit Mishra, Joginder Sharma, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana and Priyansh Arya. Bharadwaj asked him to book a train ticket to Bhopal, where the Dronacharya Awardee runs a ‘gurukul’-style coaching setup in the middle of a forest.

“I was unhappy after going unsold. When my name came up in the accelerated round, I was hopeful. But when no one lifted the paddle for me, I was shattered from inside,” Dahiya tells TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Moving to Bhopal, where he had lived in the recent past, was not easy.“Bharadwaj sir even takes away our phones. There is only one hour of entertainment, during which we get our mobiles to talk to our parents,” he says.The 23-year-old turns philosophical and adds, “If you want to achieve something, you have to sacrifice a lot. This is what I believe in.”Dahiya, who shot to fame with his exploits in the Delhi Premier League (DPL), was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs3 crore — ten times his base price of Rs30 lakh. Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were involved in a bidding battle for the Delhi wicketkeeper-batter.

Tejasvi Dahiya celebrates after scoring winning runs in the DPL

“What Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) bhai did with KKR, I want to repeat that,” says Dahiya.Dahiya was the leading six-hitter in the DPL, smashing 29 sixes and amassing 339 runs at a strike rate of 190.44.“He has that attacking mindset. He has always been like this. He and Priyansh (Arya) used to get into six-hitting competitions at the LB Shastri Academy,” says Bharadwaj.“When I saw him bat for the first time, I imagined the entire picture. Mujhe lag gaya ki ek heera haath aa gaya hai (I realised I had found a diamond). At 16, I made him the captain of LB Shastri. He has a mature head on his shoulders. Since he keeps wickets as well, he understands and reads the game really well,” adds the coach.But the journey wasn’t easy for Dahiya. He comes from a family of teachers. His father, Ravindra Singh Dahiya, is a maths teacher, while his mother, Babita Dahiya, is an economics teacher in a Delhi government school.“Na unko yakeen ho raha hai, na main digest kar pa raha hoon (Neither my parents nor I can believe it),” says Dahiya.

Tejasvi Dahiya plays for South Delhi Superstarz in the Delhi Premier Legaue

“Barring Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, I went for trials with all the other teams. But I wasn’t sure because of what happened last year,” he adds.Growing up, Dahiya looked up to Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.“I loved the attacking intent of Viru sir, the six-hitting and keeping of MS, and the discipline of Virat bhai,” he says.Dahiya says he is eager to play in the IPL and show the world what he can do.“Hum toh Delhi se hain aur hum jaan laga ke khelte hain (I am from Delhi, and we play with full intensity),” says Dahiya.

Meanwhile, coach Bharadwaj says he is excited for his ward but cautions him against reckless shot-making early on.

Tejasvi Dahiya

“Kids these days go for a first-ball six — there’s a bravado I don’t like. I think he can have a good season and might end up playing all the matches, but he needs to make it count,” says Bharadwaj.

MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming (Agency Image)

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has explained the thinking behind the franchise’s biggest moves at the IPL 2026 auction, following the record-breaking signings of Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer. CSK stunned the auction table on Tuesday by securing uncapped wicketkeeper batter Kartik Sharma for Rs 14.2 crore. The 19-year-old became the joint most expensive uncapped Indian player in IPL history, a record he now shares with Prashant Veer, who was also picked up by CSK for the same amount. Fleming said the franchise had been tracking Kartik closely and felt the timing was right to act.

“We’ve been watching Kartik for some time. He was with us last year,” Fleming said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “We needed that skillset of Prashant after the Jadeja trade.” Prashant Veer, an all-rounder from Uttar Pradesh, attracted intense interest during the auction. Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad were all involved in the bidding before CSK stayed in till the end to land the youngster for Rs 14.20 crore. Fleming suggested the aggressive approach was shaped by lessons learned during the previous season. “Fair reflection, as the game evolved, we may have been slow to evolve with it,” Fleming said. “Halfway through the tournament we made a big shift. The work we did then has enabled us to continue that work now.” Elsewhere at the auction, Cameron Green made headlines after being sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 25.20 crore. The Australian all-rounder became the most expensive overseas player in IPL history and the third most expensive player overall. Rajasthan Royals exited the bidding at around Rs 13 crore before CSK pushed the price beyond Rs 25 crore, only for KKR to seal the deal with the final bid. Despite the Rs 25.2 crore winning bid, Green will earn Rs 18 crore for the 2026 season, in line with IPL regulations for overseas players. Green brings an impressive record with him. He has scored 521 runs in 21 T20Is at an average of 32.56 and a strike rate of 160.30, alongside 12 wickets. In overall T20 cricket, he has 1,334 runs in 63 matches, including a century, and 28 wickets. In the IPL, he has featured for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, scoring 707 runs in 29 matches and picking up 16 wickets, before missing last season due to injury.

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Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma (File photo)

NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday warned that India would not remain silent and teach a “lesson” if politicians in Bangladesh continued to make remarks about India’s northeastern region.His comments came a day after Hasnat Abdullah, a senior leader of the newly formed National Citizen Party, said Dhaka should “isolate” India’s northeastern states and support separatist elements in the region if New Delhi attempted to “destabilise” the neighbouring country.“For the last one year, statements have been coming repeatedly from that country (Bangladesh) that the states of northeast India should be separated and made a part of Bangladesh. We are a very big country, a nuclear nation and the world’s fourth-largest economy. How can Bangladesh even think about it?” Sarma told reporters, according to PTI.“This mindset should not be encouraged, and Bangladesh should not be helped much in any way. We should teach them a lesson that if they continue to behave in this way. We will not remain silent,” the BJP leader added.On Monday, Abdullah, a key leader of the student-led protests that brought down Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina government in August last year, claimed that India’s northeastern states were geographically “vulnerable” as they depend on the narrow Siliguri Corridor—also known as the “Chicken’s Neck”—for connectivity with the rest of the country.Hasina has been living in Delhi since fleeing Dhaka, and ties between the two neighbours have been at an all-time low since her ouster. Last month, an International Crimes Tribunal found her guilty and sentenced her to death for “crimes against humanity” during the protests. Hasina rejected the verdict, describing it as “politically motivated.”Dhaka has repeatedly sought the former prime minister’s extradition, a request New Delhi has said is “being examined.”Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, whose caretaker administration has been governing Bangladesh since the fall of Hasina’s government, has also repeatedly commented on India’s northeastern region, commonly known as the “Seven Sisters” after the seven states that constitute it.

AI image (Representative)

US saw a significant cutdown in jobs in November, marking a record unemployment high since 2021. It gained 64,000 jobs in November, over October’s loss of 105,000 positions, primarily due to federal workforce reductions under the Trump administration. The unemployment level increased to 4.6%, reaching its peak since 2021.The Labour Department’s delayed reports, released on Tuesday, were postponed by the 43-day federal government closure. November’s employment growth exceeded economists’ predictions of 40,000, while October’s decline stemmed from 162,000 federal workers departing by fiscal year 2025’s end on September 30, influenced by Elon Musk‘s reduction of government personnel.Official revisions reduced August and September employment figures by 33,000 positions. Employment growth has slowed, affected by uncertainty regarding President Trump’s tariff policies and the lingering impact of Federal Reserve’s elevated interest rates from 2022-2023 to control inflation.

While organisations maintain current staff, they hesitate to expand, grappling with artificial intelligence integration and adaptation to Trump’s unpredictable policies, particularly his substantial import tariffs. This situation complicates job searches, while Federal Reserve officials debate interest rate adjustments amidst delayed economic data following the shutdown.The unemployment rate, though historically moderate, has risen since its 54-year low of 3.4% in April 2023. The situation is further complicated by advancing technology potentially reducing workforce requirements.“We’ve seen a lot of the businesses that we support are stuck in that stagnant mode: ‘Are we going to hire or are we not? What can we automate? What do we need the human touch with?”’ said Matt Hobbie, vice president of the staffing firm HealthSkil in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as quoted by Associated Press.“We’re in Lehigh Valley, which is a big transportation hub in eastern Pennsylvania. We’ve seen some cooling in the logistics and transportation markets, specifically because we’ve seen automation in those sectors, robotics,” he added.Employment concerns prompted the Fed to reduce its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points, marking the third reduction this year. Three Fed officials opposed this decision, marking the highest dissent in six years. Some officials resist further cuts while inflation exceeds the 2% target. Two maintained their position for unchanged rates, while Trump appointee Stephen Miran supported a larger reduction.The shutdown delayed the Labour Department’s September, October and November reports. The September report emerged on November 20, with partial October data released alongside November’s report on Tuesday. October’s unemployment rate remained uncalculated due to the shutdown.

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