3 teams who should target Akash Deep in IPL 2026 Auction ft. SRH

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) released pacer Akash Deep when they confirmed their retentions for IPL 2026. Apart from the Bengal pacer, LSG also released David Miller, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Will O’Rourke, Ravi Bishnoi and Shamar Joseph, while all-rounder Shardul Thakur was traded to Mumbai Indians (MI).

Akash Deep was purchased by the LSG franchise for an impressive sum of ₹8 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. The 29-year-old played six matches for LSG in IPL 2025, claiming three wickets at an economy rate of 12.05. In his overall IPL career, Akash Deep has played 14 matches in which he has claimed 10 wickets.

If we look at his T20 numbers, Akash Deep has played 53 matches in which he has claimed 59 wickets at an average of 26.23 and an economy rate of 8.32. Having been released by LSG, he has registered for the IPL 2026 auction at a base price of ₹1 crore. In this feature, we look at three franchises that can target the Indian pace bowler at the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi.

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#1 Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) traded senior pacer Mohammad Shami to LSG ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. The SRH franchise also released other bowlers like Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar and Simarjeet Singh.

Looking at Hyderabad's pace bowling choices following their retentions and releases, they have skipper Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga. While there is a decent quantity of fast bowlers in the squad, the pace department definitely needs some boosting for the next edition.

SRH will head into the IPL 2026 auction with a purse of ₹25.50 crore and 10 slots left to fill (two overseas). The franchise can definitely think of adding Akash Deep to their squad for the upcoming season to improve their fast bowling resources.

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#2 Delhi Capitals (DC)

Delhi Capitals (DC) failed to make the playoffs during the IPL 2025 edition despite beginning the season with a bang - four wins on the trot. The franchise suffered due to their inability to capitalize on the batting powerplay. Another reason why they failed was due to the lack of support for Mitchell Starc in the bowling.

Starc himself was expensive, claiming 14 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 10.16. However, the others fared even worse. Mukesh Kumar had an economy rate of 10.32, Dushmantha Chameera went at 11.40 and Mohit Sharma, who recently announced his retirement, had an economy rate of 10.28. T Natarajan, who has been retained, conceded 49 runs in just 18 balls.

Clearly, Delhi need some firepower in their pace bowling department to support Starc. DC go into the auction with a purse of ₹21.80 crore and eight slots left (five overseas). They could target Akash Deep as one of their Indian buys at the IPL 2026 mini-auction.

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#3 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Three-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are extremely strong in the spin bowling department. In Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine, they have two of the best slow bowlers in T20 cricket. Both the players can singlehandedly win games for the team. The same, however, cannot be said about Kolkata's pace bowling department.

KKR have retained Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora. Both have been impressive for the franchise in the last couple of seasons. Umran Malik has also been retained, but he has not played a lot of IPL matches in recent seasons. With Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya and Spencer Johnson being released, KKR undoubtedly need to augment their pace bowling resources.

Kolkata will go into IPL 2026 mini-auction with a massive purse of ₹64.30 crore and 13 slots left to fill (six overseas). With such a huge purse, KKR are in the best position to push for players at the mini-auction. They could look to target Akash Deep as one of their buys in their endeavor to boost their fast bowling department.