India, Dec. 17 -- The IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on December 16 wasn't merely a player marketplace; it was a paradigm shift in how franchise cricket values talent. In a single day of frenetic bidding, ten franchises deployed INR 215.45 crore to acquire 77 players from a pool of 359, creating three new IPL records and fundamentally altering the economic landscape of T20 cricket.

Cameron Green's INR 25.20 crore deal shattered overseas player valuations, while uncapped teenagers Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma commanded INR 14.20 crore each, eclipsing established internationals and signalling cricketing's most dramatic generational wealth transfer.

Yet beneath the headline-grabbing mega-deals lies a more nuanced story: one of marke...