Follow UsEngland opener Ben Duckett has been in tremendous form, and he was the reason England were able to chase down 372 against India at Headingley in the first Test of the five-match series between the two teams.
However, even after being so flamboyant with the willow in hand and the range of shots that he has got for both pace and spin, Duckett hasn’t had any seekers in the world's richest cricket league, the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But it may soon change as at least three teams, if not more, can target the English opener in the IPL 2026 mini auction.
CSK had a horrifying season in 2025 as they finished bottom (10th) for the first time in the league’s 18-year history. This was mainly due to their openers- Rachin Ravindra and Rahul Tripathi (initially), being unable to up the ante right at the top. They did not have someone to change the course of the game right at the top, and that’s where Duckett comes in.
The 30-year-old has played 208 T20s, scoring 5274 runs at a strike rate of 140 with 34 half-centuries to his credit. He can surely replace Devon Conway, who has lost his form and his place in New Zealand's T20I setup.
In the long term, when MS Dhoni does bid goodbye to the IPL, Duckett could become the wicketkeeper-batter that could be the guiding light for the CSK franchise for at least the next five to seven-year period.
KKR were in a fix, having both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Quinton de Kock in the side. They were not able to decide who should keep wickets and who should field.
As a result, both of them failed, and now KKR would be looking to get Duckett to fix that problem as a one-stop solution for the wicketkeeper-batter.
The DC unit were harmed in the way that Harry Brook decided not to come. Now, they have a great leader in Axar Patel, a brilliant bowling lineup led by Mitchell Starc in the pace department and Kuldeep Yadav in the spin department. But it is their batting and especially the opening that has troubled them. Fraser-McGurk didn’t come well, and KL Rahul is not a basher at the top.
With Abishek Porel failing to perform, the Capitals could look at Duckett as a wicketkeeper, an opening batter who can complement Rahul’s anchor innings with flamboyance at the top and keep the Capitals’ score moving in the powerplay.