Afghanistan's 18-year-old spinner Wahidullah Zadran is the youngest player to be included on IPL 2026 mini auction list. Wahidullah, who was born on November 15, 2007, is a spinner who has played 19 T20s. India's 39-year-old uncapped all-rounder Jalaj Saxena is the oldest player. Jalaj has taken 705 wickets and has scored 9,967 runs in his professional career across formats.

Silent tie-breaker rule can come into play in the IPL auction when a franchise makes last bid for a player and with that it would've exhausted its purse. Another franchise can match the bid, following which both franchises can submit a written last bid to BCCI, which is an amount franchise would've to pay to BCCI to secure the player.

An overseas player won't receive more than ₹18 crore even if he's bought for ₹30 crore at IPL 2026 mini auction. IPL brought in 'maximum fee' rule to address franchises' concern that some overseas players register exclusively at mini auctions to exploit supply-demand imbalance. If bid exceeds ₹18-crore mark, the additional money would be utilised by BCCI for player welfare.

KKR have the maximum amount to spend at ₹64.3 crore at the IPL 2026 mini auction in Abu Dhabi today. CSK follow KKR with ₹43.4 crore. Meanwhile, defending champions RCB can spend ₹16.4 crore, while MI can spend ₹2.75 crore, the least amount among the franchises. SRH have ₹25.5 crore to spend at the auction.

Abu Dhabi will host IPL 2026 auction today. Jeddah hosted 2025 auction, while Dubai staged 2024 edition. Mumbai hosted the inaugural auction in 2008 and also the 2010 auction. Bengaluru hosted it in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. The 2009 and 2013 auctions were held in Goa and Chennai, respectively. Chennai also hosted 2021 auction.

India's Rishabh Pant was IPL 2025 auction's most expensive buy, being bought by LSG for ₹27 crore. Australia's Mitchell Starc was the costliest buy of IPL 2024 auction, with KKR buying him for ₹24.75 crore. MS Dhoni was the costliest buy in first-ever IPL auction (CSK, $1.5 million). Yuvraj Singh was the costliest buy in IPL 2014 and 2015 auctions.

Argentine football legend Lionel Messi's teammate Rodrigo De Paul pushed a security personnel aside to bring a young fan forward during photo shoot at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. A video of the same has gone viral on social media. "They don't call him Messi's bodyguard for nothing," a fan jokingly commented.

BJP's Punjab unit criticised killing of kabaddi player Rana Balachauria, shot dead minutes before a match in Mohali. It said, "Punjab has become insecure to the point that even the kabaddi field is no longer safe from bullets." It added, "This isn't first such incident...Previously, kabaddi players Sandeep Nangal Ambian and Tejpal Singh of Jagraon have also been brutally murdered."

India's bowling coach Morne Morkel shared his satisfaction with the way the team's bowlers recovered following a difficult outing in the second T20I against South Africa. Reflecting on the turnaround, Morkel emphasized his contentment with the attitude and resilience shown by the bowlers. In a video shared by BCCI, he said: "I am just happy how the boys bounced back."

Shaheen Afridi was removed from bowling on his BBL debut after delivering two waist-high full tosses in one over. ICC Law 41.7 states: "Any delivery above the waist height of the striker is deemed dangerous." It further adds a repeat offence allows umpires to "suspend that bowler for the remainder of the innings." Afridi finished with figures of 0/43 overall.