IPL 2026: Two England stars reject contracts amid injury crisis, prioritise county cricket
The news comes days after Ben Duckett pulled out of the IPL and his Delhi Capitals (DC) contract.
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England duo of Josh Tongue and Jamie Smith reportedly rejected contracts from Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises amid the host of injuries and withdrawals prior to the commencement of the marquee tournament.
Both Tongue and Smith were part of the mini auction and thus players amongst the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) list, making them eligible for injury replacement before or during the 2026 season. Both England stars, however, went unsold in the auction, with Smith having his base price at INR 2 crore while Tongue was amongst the INR 1 crore bracket.
According to The Telegraph, both players, who recently formed part of England’s Ashes squad, decided against IPL contracts and will instead play for their respective counties in the 2026 season of the County Championship, which is set to commence roughly a week after IPL begins.
England's Jamie Smith puts positive spin on IPL snub
The news comes days after Ben Duckett pulled out of the IPL and his Delhi Capitals (DC) contract. The left-handed batter cited focusing on his international career as the reason to make the difficult decision to make himself unavailable for the Delhi Capitals after he was picked in the mini auction at his base price of INR 2.00 crore.
As things stand, there are twelve England players who are set to compete in IPL 2026. Gujarat Titans (GT), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have three English players each in their squads.
Jos Buttler, Tom Banton and Luke Wood form part of the GT team while Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox and Phil Salt will play for RCB. SRH’s side consists of Brydon Carse and the new signings of Liam Livingstone and David Payne. The latter was signed as an injury replacement for the Australia bowler Jack Edwards.
Meanwhile, Will Jacks, Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton are set to represent the Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings, respectively.
RR announce Dasun Shanaka as replacement for Sam Curran
Sam Curran was expected to play for RR this season only for him to pull out through injury ahead of the tournament. The inaugural champions signed Dasun Shanaka as his replacement.
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