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Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians had a quiet IPL 2026 mini auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. They had retained majority of their IPL 2025 squad and only had Rs 2.75 crore in their purse remaining. The high point of their auction was when team owner Akash Ambani raised the paddle when Cameron Green’s name came up with a base price of Rs 2 crore. As soon as Kolkata Knight Riders raised the stake MI had no option but to pull out with their meager budget. MI had bought Cameron Green for a record price of Rs 17.5 crore at the IPL 2023 mini auction before trading him to Royal Challengers Bengaluru next year for the same price. Speaking on JioHotstar MI’s Team Owner Akash Ambani commented on auction approach this season: “It was a new experience for us after almost 18 auctions. I think this was probably the lowest spend we’ve ever had at an auction. But we’ve always been very active in the trade market. We managed to get the options we were looking for and it was important to identify the gaps we wanted to fill. Overall we were very very happy with the squad we put together in the big auction.” On MI raising the paddle for Cameron Green Akash Ambani said “Whenever we raise the paddle we are serious. But in this case it was also a bit of a homage. Mumbai Indians was Cameron Green’s first IPL team and we believe he’s a very very good player — and an even better person. We knew he was out of our purse range for this auction but it was our way of telling him that he’s still valued and very much in our thoughts. Whenever Cameron Green is in the auction our paddle will go up for him.” Green ultimately went to Shah Rukh Khans Kolkata Knight Riders for record price of Rs 25.2 crore while the Australian all-rounder will only get Rs 18 crore due to BCCIs maximum fee rule. On bidding for Quinton de Kock elder son of Mukesh Ambani said “We’ve bid for Quinton in every auction he’s been available. Even last year we were bidding against KKR for him. There’s a strong chemistry between Rohit and Quinton — they were a championship-winning opening pair for us. From our perspective Quinton is still extremely experienced and a very strong IPL performer. We believe he’s well-suited to Wankhede and gives us excellent options at the top. His relationship with Ryan was also a factor. Growing up Ryan idolised Quinton and he was pushing for him even during the South Africa auction. Now finally they’re part of the same team.” Speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘TATA IPL Auction Review’ JioStar expert Anil Kumble analysed Mumbai Indians’ squad composition and playing XI. JioStar expert Anil Kumble commented on MI’s probable playing XI: “Mumbai Indians have done well in the auctions especially considering they came with a limited budget. They had already secured Sherfane Rutherford Mayank Markande and Shardul Thakur even before the auction began. Quinton de Kock coming in adds a lot of depth and experience to the top order alongside Rohit Sharma. This is a serious batting line-up. If you pick someone like Quinton you want him opening the innings and then see how he goes because he can be extremely destructive. “Wankhede Stadium really suits his style of batting we’ve seen that he doesn’t just score 20s or 30s — he goes on to score hundreds and that makes a big difference. I would certainly like to add Mitchell Santner into this XI. He was a big differentiator for Mumbai Indians last season and addressed an area they needed to strengthen the spin department. With Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar MI have the option of playing both or choosing one and then bringing in another spinner like Mayank Markande or even Ashwani Kumar if he’s bowling well. He did that effectively last season. Ghazanfar missed out last season due to injury so there are plenty of options available. Overall this batting line-up in particular is extremely solid” Kumble added.