Former Chennai Super Kings batsman Subramaniam Badrinath has revealed why he feels Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore were the two most successful franchises in terms of executing strategies on the table. Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction is concerned.
Badrinath highlighted how MI and RCB had retained most of their squad members from last season and considering their forgettable 2025 seasons, they did not need to rearrange their setups like CSK did. He highlighted how MI and RCB repeated the trend of successful teams to spend less during the mini auction.
“I think the MI and RCB auctions were the best. Because if you are very active in the mini auctions, it means somewhere you have not done something right. That is why you are changing everything. So, it starts very early, like who you retain. You should spend more in the mega auctions and less in the mini auctions. That is what successful teams have done over the years,” Badrinath said via Geostar.
“Thus, MI and RCB entered the auction with swag, knowing that they already had everything ready. If there was a match tomorrow, both these teams could have played it even without the auction,” he said.
MI and RCB had a maximum of five and eight slots respectively to fill ahead of the auction. He also made some smart purchases in the auction. The five-time champions had lost in Qualifier 2 in IPL 2025. RCB, on the other hand, broke their trophy drought and won their first IPL title, which came under the captaincy of Rajat Patidar.
While the Rs 1.00 crore spent on Quinton de Kock was the most expensive buy for MI in Abu Dhabi, Venkatesh Iyer got Rs 7.00 crore to play for the defending champions in 2026. CSK, on the other hand, spent Rs 14.20 crore on uncapped players Prashant Veer and Karthik Sharma as the duo made headlines as the joint-most expensive uncapped players in the history of the IPL auction.
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