It isn’t easy being Sanju Samson right now. Despite playing the most important part in helping India lift the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Samson remains on the bench. After three failures, he has been replaced in India’s starting line-up for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. If that wasn’t enough, he was left out of India’s T20I squad for the Zimbabwe series as well. Now, there’s some more bad news coming for Kerala fans.
In the latest development regarding the Kerala Cricket League (KCL), Samson has denied to be part of the auction list. Earlier, he was released by his franchise Kochi Blue Tigers. Now, he isn’t part of the auction list that has 156 players, who will go under the hammer on July 11 in Trivandrum.
No KCL for Sanju Samson
It is a bit shocking that Sanju Samson won’t feature in this year’s KCL. He was the most expensive player as he was bought for Rs 26.80 lakh last season, which is more than half of the auction purse of only Rs 50 lakh. By releasing him, Kochi freed up more than 50 per cent of their budget. We thought that it could’ve been a tactical decision but it looks like Samson has told the Kerela Cricket Association (KCA) that he won’t be playing this time around. That’s sad for fans, as he is the most loved cricketer in that part of the country.
The decision is a bit fascinating as well, since Samson won’t have much on his plate when the the KCL season three will be going on between August 20 to September 5. India’s Test team will be playing two Tests in Sri Lanka at that time, leaving Samson with ample time to play for in the local league. But Samson has chosen not to.
KCL 2026 auction: All you need to know
While Samson not being there will disappoint fans, but the auction still has plenty of talent to watch. The state’s domestic players are split into three pools, and the six franchises will round out their squads after retaining 17 players each.
Pool A has 32 of the most experienced names in the state. Each comes in with a base price of ₹3 lakh. These are players who’ve played BCCI First-Class, List A, IPL and India Under-19 cricket. The big names here include Sachin Baby, Vishnu Vinod, Basil Thampi and MD Nidheesh.
Pool B has 37 players at a base price of ₹1.5 lakh. It’s mostly young talent who’ve come through the Under-19 and Under-23 systems. Keep an eye on Aditya Baiju, Amay Manoj, Hrishikesh and Thomas Mathew.
Pool C is the biggest with 87 players, all starting at ₹75,000. This group is made up of performers from district, zonal and KCA tournaments, plus a few who stood out in last season’s KCL.
Each team has to pick between 16 and 20 players. Every franchise gets an auction purse of ₹50 lakh, and whatever they spent on retentions will be deducted before bidding starts.
KCL 2026 retained players
| Franchise | Players retained |
|---|---|
| Aries Kollam Sailors | N.M. Sharafuddeen, Abhishek J. Nair, Pawan Raj, Vijay Viswanath |
| Thrissur Titans | Ahammad Imran, Shoun Roger, Aditya Vinod, A.K. Arjun |
| Calicut Globstars | Salman Nizar, Rohan S. Kunnummal, Akhil Scaria |
| Trivandrum Royals | Krishna Prasad, Govind Dev Pai, V. Ajith |
| Kochi Blue Tigers | Saly Samson (C), Mohammed Ashiq |
| Alleppey Ripples | Mohammed Azharuddeen |
Cricket
Sanju Samson steps away from Kerela Cricket League after retention snub
