IPL Auction | Salil Arora, Ashok Sharma and Auqib Nabi lead domestic juggernaut ahead of much-anticipated pay day

‌The mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 season took place in Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25 last year. But the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), the premier domestic T20 tournament in India, had started just a day back. The timing and relevance of the tournament came under the scanner, with the hopes of a bunch of talented domestic players thrown under the bus.

This time around, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian Premier League Governing Council were careful with the scheduling of SMAT’s current edition and the mini auction for the next season. The auction is set to take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, with only three matches to be completed in the tournament by the time bidding starts.

And a bunch of players have hogged the limelight, just before the hammer goes down, with their extraordinary performances in the domestic T20 competition. And the franchises would have surely taken note of their exploits and made plans for acquiring them too. Let us have a look at some of those players who are in the midst of a great season and are close to sealing that coveted pay cheque from the respective teams.

Wicketkeeper-Batters

Salil Arora

Salil Arora is having a breakout season with Punjab in the ongoing SMAT 2025-26, smashing 308 runs from seven games at an astonishing average of 77.00 and a strike rate of 203.97. The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has owned the number five spot in a star-studded Punjab batting lineup, including a 45-ball 125 against Jharkhand, and is yet to be dismissed in the Super League phase of the tournament. One of those rare batters who has hit more sixes (23) than fours (22) this year, with more than 73% of his total runs coming through boundaries. Come the auctions, he will be hotly pursued by teams like Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings who need domestic middle order enforcements.

Tushar Raheja

Though highly inconsistent in the ongoing SMAT campaign, Tushar Raheja deserves a shout-out ahead of the mini auction. After a swashbuckling half-century against Delhi in the second game, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batter has had an ordinary campaign, averaging 21.57, but striking at 164.13. But back-to-back 300-plus seasons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, including a Player of the Match-winning half-century in the final against a bowling lineup with Ravichandran Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy in the 2025 season, will ensure that teams will be interested in getting the left-hander on board. Punjab Kings are on the lookout for a backup wicketkeeper for Prabhsimran, while Rajasthan Royals will be keen to add a top-order backup for their dashing duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

With teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants looking to find suitable backup options in the middle order, young players like Ravi Singh (Railways), Tejaswi Dahiya (Delhi), Kartik Sharma and Mukul Choudhary (Rajasthan) can be hopeful of grabbing their maiden IPL contract. The wicketkeeping quartet, who are in their early 20s, except for Kartik (19) and in their first or second season in the domestic circuit, have featured in the middle order and gathered runs at a great pace to grab the attention of the respective franchises.

Batters

Sarfaraz Khan

After being unsold in the last two auctions, the Mumbai batter is back in the reckoning with a noticeable run for Mumbai at number three. Sarfaraz has smashed 256 runs from six games in the SMAT, including a century and two fifties, at an average of 64 and a stunning strike rate of 182.85. With 76.56 of his total runs coming in boundaries, the batter has quietly opened up another aspect of his game and is sure to acquire bids from Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who are all on the lookout to strengthen their top order.

Anmolpreet Singh

In a Punjab side that boasts the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Naman Dhir, Prabhsimran Singh and Ramandeep Singh, Anmolpreet has been the top run getter with 311 runs at an average of 34.55 and a strike rate of 168.1. He has played the number three role, in an all-guns-blazing lineup, to perfection and is sure to gain traction in the mini auction on Tuesday. With short, albeit insignificant, stints with IPL franchises in earlier seasons, a rejuvenated Anmolpreet will be pursued by the likes of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians.

Karan Lal

The 25-year-old opener from Bengal has been a revelation in the SMAT this season, often overshadowing his much-established opening partner Abhishek Porel in terms of scoring rate. The right-handed batter has scored his 219 runs at an impressive strike rate of 195.53, while also averaging 31.28 in seven matches. His 50-ball 113 against Himachal Pradesh, in Bengal’s five-wicket win while chasing 209, included a mammoth 10 sixes and eight fours, is sure to have Sunrisers Hyderabad already planning for the youngster’s signature, given his swashbuckling style perfectly suits the Orange Army.

Apart from the above, Kunal Chandela, Aman Rao, and Prithvi Shaw have also had impressive campaigns to widen the net of franchises’ wishlist in terms of top-order batters. Though the opening pair of Shaw and Aman have averaged sub-30 during their inconsistent stints, they have struck at 160.52 and 164.92, respectively. Meanwhile, Chandela has amassed 350 runs at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 150.86.

All-Rounders 

Prashant Veer

At a young age of 20, Prashant has made franchises sit back and take notice with his all-round abilities. Coming lower down the order, the young all-rounder from Uttar Pradesh has used the long handle to good effect to score 112 runs at a strike rate of just under 170, with more than 71% of his tally coming in boundaries. The left-arm spinner has been impressive with his primary skill too, with nine wickets from seven innings at an impressive economy of 6.76. And his ability to bowl with the new ball and in the powerplay makes him a hot property, and comparisons with Ravindra Jadeja, though very early in his career, takes him a bit closer to Chennai Super Kings as a long-term replacement for the Indian all-rounder.

Aman Hakim Khan

A pace bowling all-rounder is a rare commodity in the game of cricket, especially in India, and that is where they command the respect and attention in the IPL auctions. Unsurprisingly, Cameron Green is the centre of attention ahead of the current mini-auction, with his three-dimensional skill set.

Pondicherry captain Aman Hakim Khan has hit 236 runs in seven games, batting in the middle order, at an average of 33.71 and a strike rate of 160.54. He has also chipped in with his medium pace with the ball, picking up six wickets from six innings, sitting right on top of the radar of Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Bowlers

Ashok Sharma

After spending the entire IPL 2025 with the Rajasthan Royals without playing a single match, Ashok Sharma returned a hungrier man for the SMAT 2025-26 season. The 23-year-old is having an excellent campaign for Rajasthan, being one of the primary reasons for the side’s qualification to the Super League of the tournament. The right-arm pacer has a whopping tally of 20 wickets from nine games at an average of 14.80 and an impressive strike rate of 9.95. With these unbelievable figures, the quick is sure to attract attention from top franchises like RCB, SRH and even KKR.

Auqib Nabi

After an excellent start to the red-ball season with a tally of 29 wickets from five games in the Ranji Trophy, Auqib Nabi has carried on that momentum straight into the white-ball game with consistent performances in the SMAT this season. The Jammu and Kashmir pacer has topped the wicket charts for his side with 15 wickets from seven games, giving away just 7.41 runs an over and picking a wicket at a superlative frequency of 10.73 balls. After years of ignorance and disappointments of being rejected in the much sought-after franchise world, this, finally, appears to be the year of the tall and well-built pacer, with sides looking to shore up their pace bowling attack with dependable backup options.

Sushant Mishra

With 18 wickets in nine games, Sushant Mishra is the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing SMAT campaign. Though slightly expensive at an economy of 9.11, the left-arm pacer from Jharkhand makes up for it, averaging a wicket inside every two overs. Sushant has been central in his side topping Elite Group D and now the Super League Group A, with Jharkhand yet to lose after nine games in the competition.

With a high demand for left-arm seamers and an equally opposite supply for the same, the 24-year-old Sushant is in for a big day at the auctions on Tuesday. RCB and CSK will be keen to support their frontline pacers, Yash Dayal and Khaleel Ahmed, respectively, by signing the rookie pacer as a key backup.

Shivam Shukla and Tanay Thyagarajan

In a tournament dominated by pacers, Shivam Shukla and Tanay Thyagarajan have quietly impressed, being the joint second in terms of wickets taken by spinners, behind Harpreet Brar, in SMAT. It is difficult to imagine a leg-spinner operating at an economy of under seven in a T20 tournament. But Shukla has done just that, picking his 14 wickets at a miserly 6.74 in nine matches for Madhya Pradesh. He was key to MP bowling out Andhra Pradesh for a paltry total during their four-wicket win in the first game of the Super League. With Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals all looking for spinners in their squad, the 30-year-old Shukla might end up getting a lucky break.

Meanwhile, Tanay has also impressed for Hyderabad in the SMAT Super League with five wickets in two games and an overall tally of 14 wickets at an equally impressive economy of 6.80. The left-arm spinner can also be handy with the bat, lower down the order, averaging just under 20 in his overall T20 career at a strike rate of 138.15. After being part of the Punjab Kings side in IPL 2024 without playing a game, Tanay is determined to get a second lease of life this time with sides like CSK looking specifically for left-arm spin options.

Some names that also deserve a mention include KM Asif, Satyanarayana Raju and Raj Limbani, with the trio picking up 15 wickets for Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Baroda, respectively. While Asif had stints with Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL in the past, with seven wickets from seven games, Raju played two games for Mumbai Indians last season with a solitary wicket to his name.