Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Mitch Owen is a giant of the game, especially in its shortest format. He's a class apart, he's fearless and he goes about striking the ball with great power. Maybe a more aggressive version of someone like Kieron Pollard or in other words, someone who can hit the ball even further than say someone like Mitch Marsh or Josh Inglis, two of his noted contemporaries from the Australian fold. He's already played T20Is against teams like West Indies, as seen most recently, and South Africa, the series currently being played back home in Australia.
However, his unmatched reputation back in the Big Bash League has furthered his stocks in the franchise based competitions. Having said that now, he has been the talk in the famed IPL if Punjab Kings releases him. Which 3 teams could target Mitch Owen in the IPL 2026 auction?
Let’s take a look at three teams that might look to acquire Mitchell Owen:
1. Lucknow Super Giants
LSG could further elevate their commanding position as a destructive team in the IPL by adding on someone like Mitchell Owen into their ranks. But first things first. Let us pause for a moment to understand just how competitive they already are. Lucknow as a side are already powered by the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Mitch Marsh and Rishabh Pant. Then there’s also batters like Ayush Badoni - who’ve had decent experience with the said franchise.
That being said, as far as the IPL 2026 auction is concerned, Lucknow would want to add a tall hitter into their ranks to specifically strengthen their lower middle order that could truly benefit from an exceptional performer in the T20 circuit. Owen is just that. His ability to score well and freely acts as a useful propeller to further lift the chances of an outfit. He could do the same for Lucknow.
2. Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the most successful, and actually speaking, stellar among all IPL outfits out there. But even then and their reputation being that of a pure power, they had a dull or rather meek IPL season the last time around in 2025. They failed to qualify for the playoffs and eventually stood eighth overall only just slightly better than the absolutely low ranked teams such as the usually competitive and mighty CSK. But as such, KKR currently have a huge talent pool in the form of players such as Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and the likes.
So they’d want to grow their talent base and wider their competitive pool by adding onto newer names such as the incredible Mitch Owen. The tall and big hitter of the white-ball could be with KKR, should it happen for real, and thus, could lend useful firepower in comparison to their relative meek surrender as seen the last time around.
3. Rajathan Royals
The Rajathan Royals are a high quality and massively competitive team that besides being the winners of the maiden or the first-ever IPL season, do contest with a bit of a problem. And it’s that when it comes to the business end of the tournament, they tend to struggle and fall short of the kind of quality results that an impressive team of their repute and stature warrants.
The last time around, in 2025, they emerged ninth, even below KKR and a year before were in drastically better and rich vein of form emerging third overall. But now if they are to reverse their fortunes, much like how KKR would, that still had more wins than Rajathan in the last season, some enormous calls will have to be made. Could that mean they get in Mitch Owen into the Rajathan squad and announce “Halla Bol” to their rivals whilst strengthening their game plan in what is to come. A giant power hitter like Owen, young and exciting, could power the side more alongside entertaining and enterprising names such as Jaiswal, Parag, and Hetmyer. Moreover, with Sanju Samson not likely to stay with RR, they’d need some urgent bolstering in the batting department.
