There were a lot of unknown Indian players at the IPL 2026 mini sale on Tuesday, and a lot of them started bidding wars and caused a stir. Prospective cricket players from India or state-run teams were in higher demand than experienced Indian or foreign players. Learn about the big Indian buys that don’t have any caps.
Prashant Veer – CSK, 14.2 crore rupees
Prashant Veer’s rise at age 20 is amazing. He went from playing for Noida Super Kings in the UPT20 League to being talked about as a possible long-term replacement for Ravindra Jadeja at Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Within the age-group circuit, he was known as “Miller” because he liked to hit sixes. With an unbelievable price, he is now the joint-highest-paid unknown Indian in the IPL.
When the UPT20 was over, Veer had scored 320 runs at a strike rate of 155 and taken eight wickets. These are impressive numbers that will get him into adult cricket quickly. What happened next was a blur: he played in and did well in six games over the course of seven days, alternating between the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Under-23s, dividing his time between Kolkata and Mumbai, before getting his huge paycheck.
Salil Arora – SRH, INR 1.50 crore
After Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, and Naman Dhir, Salil Arora, who is 23 years old, could be Punjab’s next big batter in T20.
Arora was a finisher who kept his base stable while getting sixes and could hit the ball from both the offside and the leg side during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Over the course of eight innings, he hit 358 runs, which is almost 200 runs per innings. He had 28 sixes, which put him at the top of the charts. Abhishek came in second with 26.
This kind of gung-ho attitude fits with how Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bats, and at INR 1.5 crore, he might be a good buy. If needed, Arora can also keep wicket and is Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen’s backup.
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Mangesh Yadav – RCB, INR 5.20 crore
The 24-year-old Mangesh Yadav is a slippery left-arm quick bowler who can regularly hit 140kph. He won the Emerging Player award and led the league in wickets, taking 14 for Gwalior Cheetahs. After some delay, those efforts won him a spot on the senior team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he took two wickets in three games and showed how valuable he is in many areas by scoring 28 runs off 12 balls.
Malolan Rangarajan saw him play in trials for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who had been keeping a close eye on his MPT20 run. So it’s not surprising that they worked hard to get him for INR 5.2 crore, which is 1633% more than his base price of INR 30 lakh. People think that Mangesh would be a great replacement for Yash Dayal, who hasn’t played cricket since the IPL final this year.
Tejasvi Dahiya – KKR, INR 3 crore
Tejasvi Dahiya, whose real name is Tejasvi Singh, and who is a powerful wicketkeeper hitter who likes hitting sixes, joined the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after they missed out on Kartik. In the 2025 Delhi Premier League, Dahiya, who is 23 years old, hit 339 runs in ten games at a strike rate of 190.45. Nitish Rana (34) was the only player in the game who got more sixes than Dahiya (29).
Also, Dahiya was on fire in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He scored 113 runs off 67 balls, including a 53* off 19 balls against Karnataka in Ahmedabad. Before Rishabh Pant, Dahiya had the best strike rate (278.94), which was for at least 15 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Pant had the highest strike rate (305.26).
As a hero, Dahiya looks up to MS Dhoni and trains with Sanjay Bharadwaj, who has worked with Gautam Gambhir and Priyansh Arya.
Kartik Sharma – CSK, INR 14.2 crore
Kartik Sharma is a six-hitter from Bharatpur who first played in the Rajasthan Premier League in 2023. Two years later, five teams bid on him in the IPL mini-auction. Because of how well he hit sixes, CSK paid INR 14.2 crore for him, even though they spent the same amount on Prashant Veer, another Indian player who had never played for his country.
For the season, Kartik has hit 28 sixes in 11 T20 games, giving him a strike rate of 162.92. In the first part of the 2025–26 Ranji season, he had the joint-highest six-hitter. In the previous Vijay Hazare Trophy, he had the highest six-hitter. Last season, he trained with the CSK team and showed that he could hit the ball far and high against bowlers who had been in the IPL before.
Against home teams, he has slowed down both fast and slow bowling. He put Shreyas Gopal and R Sai Kishore on the field for the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Both of them are some of the best spin bowlers in Indian cricket.
Naman Tiwari – LSG, INR 1 crore
When he was 16, Naman Tiwari won the Lucknow part of a pace hunt program. This was the first time that people paid attention to him. Since then, he has been going up as he has moved up the age-group circuit as a dangerous left-arm quick with a mean inswinger.
Scouts paid close attention to him at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa last year, and the transition to adult cricket has been smooth. Tiwari took 19 wickets in ten games, which was good enough for third place in the UPT20. He already has experience with the IPL because he was a net bowler for the Rajasthan Royals (RR). He now comes to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) full of confidence and good results.
Auqib Nabi – DC, INR 8.40 crore
Delhi Capitals paid INR 8.40 crore for Auqib Nabi, whose real name is Auqib Dar. He was the most expensive Indian bowler at the mini-auction, whether he had a cap or not. It was clear during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that Nabi, who is 29 years old, has improved his skills at the death as well as being a swing bowler.
Nabi’s exact lengths and lines can keep it tight if there isn’t much spin. Also, he can help out with the bat. In his most recent T20 game, he got 32 runs off 21 balls from No.7, which was the most for Jammu & Kashmir.
Mukul Choudhary – LSG, INR 2.60 crore
Born and raised in Jaipur, Mukul Choudhary went to the same school as Kartik Sharma and Ashok Sharma and started out as a fast bowler until life pushed him in a different direction. One school game didn’t have enough wicketkeepers, so he had to step up. Over time, he has become good at the job.
Not all of his work has been smooth, though. Although Choudhary had a rough first season with Rajasthan two years ago, playing in only two games before being let go, things went better this season. In the Under-23s, he scored 617 runs at an amazing average of 102.83, showing how consistent he was, and he ended the event with the most sixes. These comebacks helped him get back into the Rajasthan team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, filling in for a hurt Kartik.
