England pair passion tongue And Jamie Smith reportedly rejected contracts with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises amid a spate of injuries and withdrawals before the start of the marquee tournament.
Both Tung and Smith were part of the mini-auction and thus players included on the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) list, making them eligible for injury replacements before or during the 2026 season. However, both England stars went unsold in the auction Blacksmith His base price was Rs 2 crore, while Tung was in the Rs 1 crore bracket.
According to The Telegraph, both players, who were recently part of England's Ashes squad, have decided against IPL contracts and will instead play for their respective counties in the 2026 season of the County Championship, which is scheduled to begin about a week after the IPL begins.
This news comes days after Ben Duckett pulled out of the IPL and his Delhi Capitals (DC) contract. The left-handed batsman cited focus on his international career as the reason for taking the difficult decision of keeping himself unavailable for Delhi Capitals after being selected at a base price of Rs 2.00 crore in the mini auction.
As things stand, there are twelve England Players who are set to compete in IPL 2026. Gujarat Titans (GT), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have three English players in each team.
Jos Buttler, Tom Banton and Luke Wood are part of the GT team while Jacob Bethel, Jordan Cox and Phil Salt will play for RCB. SRH's squad includes Brydon Carse and new signings Liam Livingstone and David Payne. The latter was signed as an injury replacement for Australian bowler Jack Edwards.
Meanwhile, Will Jacques, Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton are set to represent Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings respectively.
Sam Curran was expected to play for RR this season only to be ruled out with injury ahead of the tournament. The inaugural champions signed Dasun Shanaka as his replacement.
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