India ODI vice-captain and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has been out of action ever since his spleen injury during the Australia tour earlier in October this year. The injury also forced him to the sidelines during the recent three-match 50-over series against the Proteas.
However, amidst injury concerns, it is now understood that Iyer will travel to Abu Dhabi and will be amongst the Punjab Kings (PBKS) delegation for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) Auction on December 16.
According to BCCI rules, a maximum of eight team members are allowed inside the auction hall, with an additional six permitted outside. Iyer is expected to be amongst those names, barring any last-minute change of plans, Cricbuzz confirmed.
On the other hand, head coach Ricky Ponting will be unavailable and not make the trip to Abu Dhabi for the event. This is because he is currently contracted with the Seven Network in Australia for commentary duties for the ongoing Ashes 2025 commentary, where the third Test begins one day after the auction, on December 17 in Adelaide.
Either way, it won’t be much of a headache for the Punjab franchise as they will anyway have very limited business to conduct when the hammer goes up.
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The Punjab outfit, who played a final for the first time in 11 years last season, will hope to go the distance this time around and build a strong squad at the mini auction. With a PBKS remaining purse of only INR 11.5 crore, they will enter the auction with the second-lowest amount but they have a more or less settled squad.
PBKS retained 21 players on the retention deadline day and released only five players. They will have four slots to fill in total out of which two are for overseas players.
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