IPL 2026 Auction: Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer will be a part of the team's auction table next week in Abu Dhabi, as per reports. He will be bidding for the Punjab-based franchise as their head coach, Ricky Ponting.

According to Cricbuzz, Shreyas will be leading the table along with one of the eight members, which the BCCI has allowed per team. He is currently recovering from a spleen injury, which he sustained in the ODI series against Australia, and will recover well in time for IPL 2026.

Since Iyer will be attending the auction along with the team management of Punjab Kings, but head coach Ricky Ponting will be giving this event a miss. Ponting will stay back in Australia as he has signed a contract with Channel 7, where he will be doing commentary for the Ashes Test match, which will be held in Adelaide on the same day of the auction.

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Both Ponting and Iyer had a positive effect after joining PBKS in IPL 2025, where they played brilliantly in the group stages and reached the summit clash, where they lost to RCB.

Not too much business for PBKS to attend

Owing to a dream run in IPL 2025, they won't be doing much in the auction as they just have to fill 4 positions in their team. They have a purse of Rs 11.5 cr and will be looking for a replacement for a player like Josh Inglis. They had let go of Glenn Maxwell and freed their purse, and that has allowed them to buy a better overseas middle-order batter.

Since Ponting won't be flying to the UAE for the auction, Daniel Vettori will be there for SRH. Apart from being SRH's head coach, he is also Australia's assistant coach.

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The auction will be held in Abu Dhabi next week, where KKR will have the biggest purse, and more than 350 players have registered their names for the auction.