Who is Salil Arora? Punjab wicketkeeper bought by SRH for ₹1.50 crore
Salil Arora has set his base price at INR 30 lakh for the IPL 2026 mini-auction.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) signed Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Salil Arora for ₹1.50 crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction. The 23-year-old has been in outstanding form and arrives at the franchise on the back of a prolific domestic season.
Arora scored an unbeaten century (125) for Punjab in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025 Super League match against Jharkhand on December 12 and followed it up with an unbeaten 42 against Andhra. In Punjab’s third Super League fixture of the ongoing season, he struck a quickfire 50 off 29 balls against Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
In red-ball cricket, Arora has featured in nine first-class matches, scoring 458 runs across 14 innings. He is currently Punjab’s leading run-scorer in SMAT 2025. At SRH, Arora will reunite with his state teammate Abhishek Sharma and play under the leadership of Australian great Pat Cummins.
Notably, Arora was the only player signed by SRH for more than ₹30 lakh before the second round of the accelerated auction. In addition to Arora, SRH also acquired Shivang Kumar, Sakib Hussain, Omkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, and Krains Fuletra. The IPL 2016 champions entered the IPL 2026 auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16, with a purse of ₹25.50 crore and 10 slots available in their squad.
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Arora's ton becomes Punjab’s third-highest SMAT score
His unbeaten 125 off 45 balls featured nine boundaries and eleven sixes. His carnage in the final over on pacer Sushant Mishra, including three sixes and a four, instantly went viral on social media. The innings is now Punjab’s third-highest SMAT score, behind Abhishek Sharma (148) and Shubman Gill (126). It also pushed Punjab to a massive 235/6.
While his T20 hundred grabbed headlines, Arora is not a one-dimensional player. His First-Class numbers will be something the team will be looking at seriously. In nine FC games, he has scored 458 runs at an average of 41.63, including one century and three fifties. In T20s, he has 142 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 165 plus. As a keeper, he has completed 25 catches and five stumpings in FC, and a catch and a stumping in T20s.