India, Dec. 15 -- Mini-auctions don't rebuild names. They fix regrets. With the IPL 2026 mini-auction up tomorrow, the sharpest way to predict bidding wars is to audit what worked and what burned money after last year's mega-auction.

IPL 2025 delivered a simple lesson: it rewarded teams that bought repeatable match control and punished those who paid a bid for names without a stable job description.

Four levers: (1) Availability, (2) Role fit, (3) match influence, and (4) replacement cost.

The strongest auction to points bridge wasn't the start batting. It was the high-leverage wickets. Prasidh Krishna (25 wickets) and Noor Ahmad (24) led the season charts; Josh Hazlewood (22 wickets in 12 innings) and Trent Boult (22) followed close b...