Weekly CRICKET Review - CXiV | IPL 2026 Mini auction

damithudaya (79)modAtlas Ambassador - LKin Steem Sri Lanka • last month

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

You already know I share a weekly wrap-up of what's happening in the Cricket community. And it's the 114th edition now.

The World of Cricket has become very busy right now with a lot of bilateral series around, including the Ashes. So, let's see what's going on.

Leonardo AI

South Africa tour of India, 2025

Another big tour of 5 T20s, 2 Tests, and 3 ODIs from Nov 14 - Dec 19. As I discussed last week, SA won the Test series, but India did well, winning the ODI series. So, let's jump to the T20 internationals.
The first match was held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. India started the batting, and they did a good job thanks to one person. The lost Gill in the first over, and his poor form continues. And the Sky, Thilak, or Axar also couldn't do anything as usual. They were unable to accelerate the inning. After 14 overs, the score was 104/5, and after 17 overs, 137/,6 and after 20 overs, it was 175/6. It was Hardik Pandya who showed his aggression, who scored 59 runs off 28 balls.

Anyhow, the chase from SA was just terrible. Arshdeep Singh took Kock in the second ball, and from there it was just regular wickets. Both spinners and pacers did their part to restrict SA to just 74 runs in 12 overs. India won by 101 runs.

The second T20I was held at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh. SA batted first, and they did it well this time. De Kock did the hard work, and others helped him get going. He scored 90 runs off 46 balls, and almost all the ballers got hammered. With that, SA scored 213/4 in 20 overs.

It wasn't easy, and as major Indian batters are out of form these days, nothing got better. Only Thilak Varma played a good role, scoring 62 off 34 balls, and India was all out for 162/10 in 19 overs. South Africa won by 51 runs.

The third one was held at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala. And once again, SA lost the rhythm batting first. It was just 117/10. Markram scored 62 runs. Eventhough it took 16 overs, India chased the target comfortably with 7 wickets remaining.

West Indies tour of New Zealand, 2025

West Indies are in New Zealand for a big series of 5 T20s, 3 Tests, and 3 ODIs from Nov 05 - Dec 22. The T20I series was already over, with New Zealand winning it 3-1, and the Kiwis had whitewashed the West Indies in the ODI series. And as I discussed last week, WI pulled off a nearly impossible feat in drawing the first Test match.
The second match was at Basin Reserve, Wellington. Batting first, WI couldn't do well. Openers had a 66-run partnership, but from there, there's nothing much. No one could score 50 runs, and Blair Tickner took 4 wickets. In reply, the Kiwis scored 278/9 when declaring. Conway and Mitchell Hay scored fifties.

In the second inning, the West Indies had a disaster. It was just 128/10. Jacob Duffy took a fifer. And they had a small target to choose, and did it in 10 overs with 9 wickets remaining.

IPL Mini Auction 2026

The IPL mini auction 2026 was held today, December 16, in Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi. Yesterday, I shared a simple overview about it.
77 players were sold this evening. So, let's see some of the interesting and top picks of it.

Cameron Green became the most expensive overseas player in IPL history - KKR for INR 25.2 crore.
Matheesha Pathirana - KKR for INR 18 crore
Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma - CSK for INR 14.2 crore each
Liam Livingstone - SRH for INR 13 crore
Mustafizur Rahman - KKR for INR 9.20 crore
Josh Inglish - LSG for INR 8.60 crore
Auqib Nabi Dar - DC for INR 8.4 crore

So, there were a few intense battles for players, and we saw that a few Indin uncapped players became very rich. And surprisingly, some experienced players didn't get selected.