Australian wicketkeeper-batsman josh inglis His limited availability for IPL 2026 has been officially confirmed ahead of the December 16 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi. His decision comes just weeks after the Punjab Kings released him despite a strong 2025 season. The Australian has confirmed that he will be available for only four matches in the new season.
A total of 1,355 players have registered for the IPL 2026 auction, of which five, including Inglis, have informed the BCCI about their restricted availability. Ashton Agar, William Sutherland, Adam Milne and Riley Rossouw have also cited international commitments and personal reasons for partial participation. Inglis, who is currently involved in the Ashes Test at the Gabba, told the BCCI that he would be available for only 25% of the season, which would be around two weeks or four games. Despite this limit, the 30-year-old has listed himself at a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Inglis has limited availability due to a marriage taking place during the IPL window. Due to this, Punjab Kings took a last minute decision to release him on the last day of the retention deadline. PBKS, who retained 21 players from their 2025 runners-up team, were initially keen to stick with Inglis. However, head coach Ricky Ponting confirmed that it had become illogical to retain a player who was unavailable for most of the season.
Ponting explains why Inglis was released
In IPL 2025, the Australian team scored 278 runs in 11 matches at an average of 30.88 and a strike rate of 162.57. His best performance came in Punjab's last league match, where he scored 73 runs in 42 balls against Mumbai Indians, helping his team finish in the top two. He then played a solid innings in Qualifier 2, in which he faced Jasprit Bumrah and scored 20 runs in a single over.
Ponting made it clear that although Inglis is a brilliant player, retaining someone who can only make brief contributions does not match his tournament plans. The franchise has also released Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardy, Kuldeep Sen and Praveen Dubey.
The head coach said, “Josh is a fantastic player. I would have loved to have him be a part of our team going forward. But this year, he was not going to be available for the majority of the tournament. For that reason, I found it quite impossible to be able to retain him.”
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