Punjab Kings Release Inglis, Maxwell Before IPL 2026 Auction

Punjab Kings, runners-up in the Indian Premier League 2025 season, have released five players ahead of the IPL 2026 mini auction, including wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis and allrounder Glenn Maxwell, as the franchise prepares to refine its squad for another title push.

The releases, announced on November 15, free up space and salary cap room for Punjab Kings, who enter the auction with a remaining purse of 11.5 crore Indian rupees and two overseas slots available. The departed players are Inglis, Maxwell, allrounder Aaron Hardie, pacer Kuldeep Sen, and spinner Praveen Dubey. Among them, Inglis's exit stands out due to his strong performance last season, where the Australian scored 278 runs in 11 matches at an average of 30.89 and a strike rate of 162.57, including a half-century against Mumbai Indians.

Head coach Ricky Ponting explained that Inglis requested exclusion from the retention list for personal family reasons, noting his unavailability for much of the upcoming tournament. "Josh is a terrific player. I would have loved to have had him as part of our squad going forward. But this year he wasn’t going to be available for the majority of the tournament," Ponting said in...