Why Sanju Samson is Not in KCL Auction 2026

Why Sanju Samson is Not on Kerala Cricket League Auction Players List?

Monojit Das

Published - Jul 11, 2026, 03:28 AM

3 min

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Sanju Samson

India's star cricketer Sanju Samson is not in the players list for the Kerala Cricket League Auction, which will be held on July 11 at Thiruvananthapuram. Being one of the top cricketers from Kerala, his absence is a big surprise for the fans.

Samson played three matches in Kerala Cricket League 2025, where he scored 221 runs in just three matches for Kochi Blue Tigers. Dropped from the Indian T20I team, he was expected to be available for the KCL 2026, but he has reportedly pulled out his name from the list.

Why Sanju Samson is Not in KCL Auction 2026?

India's wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson was released by his team Kochi Blue Tigers ahead of the auction after signing him for a record INR 26.80 lakhs last year. Samson had already informed the team about his unavailability for the entire KCL 2026 due to his prior commitments.

As a result, he was not retained and his name also didn't feature in the Kerala Cricket League Auction Players List. Samson is arguably the most famous cricketer in Kerala at the moment and fans will be disappointed not to see him this season.

“Sanju had informed the Kochi Blue Tigers and KCA about his unavailability for the third edition of the KCL because of prior commitments. So it wasn’t a surprise that he was released by Kochi Blue Tigers ahead of the auction," Nazar Machan, KCL governing council chairman, was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Despite the KCA being confident about the league's success for this season, Sanju Samson Kerala Cricket League 2026 absence could have an effect. Samson is not just the state's best cricketer but is also a crowd favorite all over India.

Sanju Samson Dropped From India's T20I Team

Sanju Samson has been in the headlines recently after he was shockingly dropped from India's team after three failures during the UK tour. The team management brought in the youngster Vaibhav Suryavanshi to open the batting with Samson dropped from the side months after winning the Player of the Tournament award in the T20 World Cup.

The right-hander had the best time of his career earlier this year when he helped India lift the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 title. Samson played match-winning knocks during crucial stages of the tournament and proved why he is seen as one of the best T20 batsmen. He played blistering knocks each against West Indies, England and New Zealand, ensuring India wins the title for the second time in a row.