India, Dec. 18 -- Half (39 out of 77) the sold players in the IPL 2026 mini-auction on Tuesday were uncapped players. Three of them - Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer and Auqib Nabi - were among the top 10 most expensive buys. And several others were talents scouted from the domestic T20 leagues around the country. This represents a shift in how IPL teams are going about building their squad - by investing early in homegrown talent. Chennai Super Kings, for instance, was looking for players to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. They could have gone for tried and tested pros, and a few years back, they would have done exactly that. But this time, they chose to trust youth and their scouting teams to pick 19-year-old Sharma and 20-year-old Veer. Their decision was also likely influenced by the 2025 season, when, after a disastrous start, the team introduced young replacements who made an immediate impact. To be sure, this strategy has also been forced upon teams because players from England and Australia aren't always available for the whole season and there aren't enough top T20 players from other countries. Having Indian players in the squad means continuity and better control for the team management. As older, marquee players retire, spotting and backing the next generation of Indian stars is no longer about waiting for players to emerge on the international stage; it is about signing them up early, and hoping that potential turns into performance. Venture capitalists would approve....