From Josh Inglis to Liam Livingstone, worst buys of IPL 2026 auction

IPL auctions are always unpredictable. Sometimes the star players don’t get a bid, and on the flipside, some little-known players get multi-crore deals. It is all part of the richest cricket league in the world. What is also a common feature at these auctions (especially mini) is that teams tend to overspend on certain players, who might not add a lot of value to the squad.

InsideSport tracks the players, whose exorbitant prices at IPL auction 2026 don’t quite match what they can offer to the teams, for one reason or the other.

Massive Salary Cut for Venkatesh Iyer, RCB Still Spend 7 Cr

RCB went on to spend a fortune on Venkatesh Iyer. Even though he got a 70% salary cut from what he was offered last year by KKR, he still is getting a handsome amount. But then, practically, how will be he slotted in the XI? He doesn’t bowl at all in the IPL now (last wicket was in IPL 2021), and his SMAT numbers as a batter aren’t the best. He has two fifties this year with a few failures in between.

There is no doubt he is a brilliant player, but it is just the utility one is questioning. When on song, he can change matches.

Injury-prone Matheesha Pathirana Gets 18 Cr by KKR

The Sri Lanka pacer who has modelled his action on Lasith Malinga, is quite injury prone. If that is not an issue for the team, then his economy in last IPL was over 10. This year he could only play two matches for Sri Lanka, where he picked up one wicket at an average of 82. Again economy was over 10.

What was CSK thinking?

CSK entered the IPL auction 2026 with a purse of 43.40 Cr. Out of that, over 28 Cr was spent on two Indian uncapped players — Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma. Don’t ask what they do, and how well they do, but the price is just baffling. Make any permutation-combination, them coming into the playing XI looks quite difficult. Even as impact players, the price is quite steep.

LSG too Kind to Josh Inglis?

Even before the auction had started, it was pretty well-known that Aussie keeper-batter Josh Inglis would be available for only 4 matches, and yet Lucknow Super Giants went ahead and bagged him for 8.6 Cr. How will be he able to contribute in these matches. If you let that go, there are two excellent keeper-batters in Rishabh Pant & Nicholas Pooran. So?

Forget that also. Your four foreign players would be Mitch Marsh, Pooran, Aiden Markram, Wanindu Hasaranga/Anrich Nortje. How do you get him to play at all?

Don’t Forget Liam Livingstone & Mustafizur Rahman

13 Cr for Livingstone. SRH, where will you fit in the English all-rounder? Okay, if he is your fourth overseas player, he will only bat as a finisher, and most likely won’t finish his quota of overs. He is the kind of player who could be used to fill gaps when needed.

On the other hand, Bangladesh players will be handed conditional NOCs by the BCB. Mustafizur Rahman was bagged by KKR for 9.20 Cr; and the permission to play in IPL will be granted if he fulfills national duty too. Bangladesh have a limited-overs series against New Zealand in April-May 2026, which clashes with the IPL.

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