The trading window sizzled and dazzled before the 2026 IPL auction, with as many as 10 players moving to and fro between teams. Whether it was due to a poor mega auction for some teams or players wanting to go to certain franchises, the market was hot for the last couple of months with rumours and speculations of various movements, before all of them were confirmed by the IPL and the franchises in the run-up to the deadline day ahead of the 19th edition of the IPL.
Probably the biggest player-to-player trade was pulled off by the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, with Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson swapping from their respective franchises. While Samson was moving away from the Royals for the first time after 11 seasons (while also playing for the then Delhi Daredevils when the Royals were suspended for two seasons in 2016 and 2017), Jadeja too (like Samson, apart from the two years when CSK were suspended), was with the Chennai Super Kings since 2012.
While Samson got his full previous year’s retention amount of INR 18 crore, Jadeja agreed to a pay cut, getting INR 14 crore. These two players were not the only part of this trade, as the Super Kings also let go of Sam Curran as part of the deal for INR 2.4 crore, with the Royals getting a couple of proven all-rounders at the IPL level. The Royals were involved in one more trade, as they got Donovan Ferreira back after a break of one season for INR 1 crore from the Capitals.
The Capitals, in return, asked for their local lad Nitish Rana on an all-cash basis for his league fee of INR 4.2 crore.
The other team, which was the busiest in trades, were the Mumbai Indians. The five-time champions were proactive in getting a few players to fill key gaps, getting Shardul Thakur from Lucknow Super Giants, Mayank Markande from Kolkata Knight Riders and Sherfane Rutherford from the Gujarat Titans.
Among all of them, Rutherford was a surprising trade given how many crucial knocks he played for the Titans, but the 2022 champions chose to let him go, keeping in mind the West Indies batter’s current form.
As far as the Lucknow Super Giants are concerned, Rishabh Pant and Co. added a couple of pace bowling options to the side even before the auction, in the form of Arjun Tendulkar (from Mumbai Indians) and Mohammed Shami (from Sunrisers Hyderabad) for his existing fee of INR 10 crore.
| Player | New team | Old team | Price (INR) |
| Ravindra Jadeja | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings | 14 crore |
| Sanju Samson | Chennai Super Kings | Rajasthan Royals | 18 crore |
| Mohammed Shami | Lucknow Super Giants | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 10 crore |
| Shardul Thakur | Mumbai Indians | Lucknow Super Giants | 2 crore |
| Nitish Rana | Delhi Capitals | Rajasthan Royals | 4.2 crore |
| Sam Curran | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings | 2.4 crore |
| Donovan Ferrerira | Rajasthan Royals | Delhi Capitals | 1 crore |
| Mayank Markande | Mumbai Indians | Kolkata Knight Riders | 30 Lakh |
| Sherfane Rutherford | Mumbai Indians | Gujarat Titans | 2.6 crore |
| Arjun Tendulkar | Lucknow Super Giants | Mumbai Indians | 30 Lakh |
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