Lucknow Super Giants may consider buying England batsman all-rounder Liam Livingstone in the IPL 2026 auction. Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif believes that Livingstone can strengthen the team’s lower order batting.

The IPL 2026 auction will be held on Tuesday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Lucknow has a purse of Rs 22.95 crore and the team needs six players, of which four will be foreign players.

David Miller has been released from the team before the auction. In such a situation, Lucknow’s biggest need is for a player who can fill the gap of Miller. According to Kaif, Liam Livingstone could be the most suitable choice for this role.

Geostar expert Kaif, in an exclusive conversation with IANS ahead of the mini auction, said, “Livingstone bats at number five or six and has the ability to hit big shots. He can also bowl. Even though his current form is not good, he has experience and his strike rate is much better. Lucknow already has foreign batsmen like Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh. So the team needs a strong finisher, who Could play at number five or six for Lucknow.

Talking about fast bowling, Lucknow’s fast bowling is already strong, in which the arrival of Mohammed Shami and Arjun Tendulkar has further strengthened the team. With this, options will also be available for injured players like Mohit Khan, Avesh Khan and Mayank Yadav.

Kaif believes that Lucknow should also take a foreign fast bowler. South Africa’s Enrique Norkia or Lungi Ngidi could be good options. He said that the ground of Lucknow is big and the red clay pitch can help a fast bowler like Nortje.

He said, “First of all, I pray and hope that Avesh Khan and Mayank Yadav are close to being fully fit, because it has been almost 5-6 months now. Lucknow will pray that they recover and come back to action. Now the second question is, who should they target? I think they need foreign fast bowlers. Enrique Norkia and Lungi Ngidi are options. Norkia can be an option because Lucknow The ground is big, square boundary, and has a red clay pitch, which can help them generate good bounce and pace, so they can target Norkia also, but as I said earlier, the injured players should be fit, and then choose either Norkia or Ngidi as an option.

In spin bowling, currently Digvesh Rathi is the main leg spinner of the team. There is a vacancy in this department after the release of Ravi Bishnoi. Kaif says that Bishnoi’s price could be very high in the auction, at which the Lucknow franchise might not want to buy.

He told that teams like Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings can make a big bid on Bishnoi. In such a situation, Lucknow will have to focus on cheap but new leg spinner or left arm spinner options. Digvesh Rathi has become the favorite bowler of captain Rishabh Pant, because he takes wickets in the powerplay and middle overs.

The live telecast of the IPL 2026 mini auction can be seen on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network from 2:30 pm on 16th December.

IPL 2026 Mini Auction: All eyes will be on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green in the mini auction for the Indian Premier League 2026 to be held at 2.30 pm today, December 16, 2025, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Due to lack of an excellent all-rounder (top in both batting and bowling) in this mini auction, a lot of money may be showered on Cameron Green. In the mini auction, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings are looking for a great all-rounder and both those teams have the highest money in their purse.

How many players will be bought for IPL 2026?

In this mini auction, all 10 teams will sit in the auction to be held in Abu Dhabi to buy a total of 77 players. In which a total amount of Rs 237 crore 55 lakh is available with all the teams. However, Mumbai Indians will not have much role in this auction, because they have only Rs 2 crore 75 lakh. Mumbai Indians will enter the auction to buy some uncapped players at their base price.

Biggest purse near Kolkata and Chennai

In the mini auction for IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders have the biggest purse of Rs 64 crore 30 lakh. KKR’s eyes will be on revamping the team, because the team has to buy a total of 13 players in the auction. Knightriders may face a challenge from the Super Kings while bidding on players in this mini auction. Chennai has the second largest purse in the auction of Rs 43 crore 40 lakh. At the same time, Super Kings would also like to buy good players according to their team balance in the mini auction.

Why is Mini Auction more interesting than Mega Auction?

Mini auctions are always more interesting than mega auctions because franchises come into the auction with certain preferences and are ready to go to any extent to add players with different skill sets to their team. In the IPL mini auction, big bids have always been made for fast bowlers who are also all-rounders, keeping this in mind, this time the biggest bids are expected for Cameron Green, Venkatesh Iyer and West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder.