Amit Mishra picks four teams for playoffs after IPL 2026 auction; leaves out five-time champions

Former leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked his four teams for the playoffs after the IPL 2026 auction. The auction took place on Tuesday, December 16, in Abu Dhabi. A total of ₹215.45 crore was spent, and 77 players were sold, including 29 overseas players.

Amit Mishra picked the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI), SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), and defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He also added the Gujarat Titans (GT) to the list and stated that four of these five teams would make it to the IPL 2026 playoffs. Notably, he left out five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"KKR, MI, SRH, RCB and GT. I think four from these five will make the playoffs," he said in a podcast on MensXP's YouTube channel.

While MI and RCB already had strong teams before the auctions through their retentions, KKR and SRH added some firepower to their respective squads with key signings.

Kolkata acquired star Australia all-rounder Cameron Green for a record-breaking ₹25.2 crore. They also brought Matheesha Pathirana, Mustafizur Rahman, Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen, and Tim Seifert, along with Indian prospects like Akash Deep and Rahul Tripathi.

SRH acquired England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for ₹13 crore, adding to their already power-packed batting line-up with the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, and Heinrich Klaasen.

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Amit Mishra on why IPL teams are like family to players

The IPL is the biggest T20 franchise league in the world. Over the years, teams have become like family to players who had long-standing associations with a single franchise. Amit Mishra reckoned that it was the support from the teams for the players that mattered.

RCB's star Virat Kohli was in tears when they won their maiden IPL title in the 2025 season. Amit Mishra reflected that the emotions came out as the franchise supported him from the start of the league. Kohli was picked by RCB in 2008 and retained every single season.

"RCB has supported Virat from the start. They have never left him. So the emotions are there. Dhoni with CSK, Rohit with MI, the emotions are there. Rohit has been with Mumbai for such a long time and has won them many titles. It is seen in him even after not being the captain, that it is his time and his home. Even with Virat, it was like that. From the start he has been there, even captained and did everything he could, he was always involved. So it becomes like a family. So when things like that happen (RCB winning), those emotions come out. And it is good as well. When a team has supported you so much, if you win for them and show those emotions, it is a very good thing," he said.

Notably, Kohli is the only player to have represented a single team for 18 seasons in the IPL. He played a key role in them winning their maiden title as well. Kohli scored 657 runs from 15 matches in the 2025 edition at an average of 54.75 and a strike rate of 144.71 with eight half-centuries.

Edited by Rishab Vm