The upcoming IPL 2026 auction, slated to be held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi, can witness some exciting drama after BCCI had made a slight twist in the silent tie-breaker rule. For the unversed, the rule was introduced during the IPL 2010 auction, to allow franchises a tie-breaker if the maximum salary cap for a player was reached. It is a rule that usually comes into play in mini auctions, with teams having relatively lesser budgets in their purse.
In the previous mini auction in IPL 2024, the rule was revamped to be used in the rare instance when a team bid the same amount for a player and exhausted their purses. If both teams couldn’t bid more, they would enter a silent-tiebreaker.
However, in IPL 2026 auction, the rule has been further tweaked to allow franchises with lower purse value a final chance by submitting a ‘matching bid’. As previously, the tie-breaker amount wouldn’t go to the player but the BCCI.
Only two teams – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have a significant balance of INR 64.30 and INR 43.40 crores respectively with he next closest being SRH at INR 25.50 crores. The remaining seven teams are bunched together closely with Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) having the lowest with INR 2.75 and INR 11.50 crore.
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The silent tie-breaker rule will come into play when one or more franchises are unable to raise the bidding further due to purse constraints and will only be eligible if,
a) one Franchise makes a bid for a player that is the final bid that it can make for the player – i.e. the Franchise does not have sufficient remaining balance on its 2026 Salary Cap to make the immediately next bid for the player once the applicable bidding increment is applied (the “Last Bid”), and
(b) no other Franchise then makes a higher bid for the player pursuant and
(c) at least one other Franchise could have made the Last Bid but, due to lack of sufficient remaining balance on its 2026 Salary Cap, is not able to make the immediately next bid for the player once the applicable bidding increment is applied, the auctioneer shall then ask those Franchise(s) whether they wish to make a matching bid for the player of the same amount as the Last Bid (the “Matching Bid”)
Let’s understand the rules with the help of an example. Suppose two teams- MI and DC are at 13.25 crore. MI makes the ‘Last bid’ for 13.25 Cr but DC can’t make the next bid due to insufficient funds, they can ask for a tie-breaker since DC has already ‘matched’ the ‘last’ bid. Furthermore, any other franchise that have 13.25 crore remaining can also submit a ‘matching bid’ request even if they have not actively been part of the bidding for that specific player.
Once the tie-breaker has been activated, the BCCI will invite each franchise that made a Matching Bid for the player along with the franchise who made the Last Bid to submit a silent written bid (Tiebreak Bid).
The Tiebreak Amount (in INR) will be payable in one instalment within 30 days of the auction and is separate from the bidding amount. There is no limit on the Tiebreak Bid and the amount will not be revealed, although which team won the bid will be.
If there’s a draw in Tiebreak Bids, then only those highest bidders will be invited to repeat the process until there is a winner.
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