IPL 2026 Retained and Released Players: Full List of All 10 Teams Ahead of Mega Auction

As the IPL 2026 mega auction approaches, all ten franchises are finalising their retention and release strategies. Teams must submit their official retained and released players list to the BCCI by November 15, with the mega auction likely set for December 15–16 in Abu Dhabi.

This year introduces a major change — franchises can retain unlimited players, unlike previous seasons that imposed caps. However, the INR 120 crore salary purse remains unchanged, and each team can have a maximum of 25 players in the final squad.

Trading window opened June 4 post IPL 2025, and will remain active until one week before the auction. There are several massive trades being discussed right now.

IPL 2026: Team-wise Retained and Released Players

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Retained:

Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, Suyash Sharma, Swastik Chikara, Manoj Bhandage

Released:

Liam Livingstone, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh, Rasikh Salam Dar, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Retained:

Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Kuldeep Sen, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Praveen Dubey, Azmatullah Omarzai, Lockie Ferguson

Released:

Harnoor Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Aaron Hardie, Musheer Khan

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Retained:

Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Vignesh Puthur, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Arjun Tendulkar, Will Jacks, Robin Minz, Naman Dhir, Allah Ghazanfar, Ryan Rickelton, Ashwani Kumar

Released:

Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Lizaad Williams, Raj Bawa

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Retained:

MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Andre Siddharth, Ayush Mhatre, Shaik Rasheed, Dewald Brevis, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Noor Ahmad, Shreyas Gopal

Released:

Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Gurjapneet Singh, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Ravichandran Ashwin

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Retained:

Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Harsh Dubey, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga

Released:

Mohammad Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Jaydev Unadkat, Wiaan Mulder, Sachin Baby

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Retained:

Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton de Kock, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Shivam Shukla

Released:

Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Chetan Sakariya

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Retained:

Axar Patel, Faf du Plessis, Sediqullah Atal, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Kumar, KL Rahul*, Manvanth Kumar L, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Darshan Nalkande, Abishek Porel, Madhav Tiwari, T Natarajan

Released:

Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Mohit Sharma

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Retained:

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Rana, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Kumar Kartikeya, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Kunal Singh Rathore

Released:

Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nandre Burger, Maheesh Theekshana

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Retained:

Shubman Gill, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Nishant Sindhu, Mahipal Lomror, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Ishant Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan

Released:

Kusal Mendis, Sherfane Rutherford, Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Karim Janat

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Retained:

Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Aryan Juyal, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahamad, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Ayush Badoni, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Prince Yadav, William O’Rourke, Ravi Bishnoi

Released:

Shamar Joseph, Himmat Singh, Abdul Samad, Matthew Breetzke, Akash Singh, David Miller, Shardul Thakur

Major Trade Buzz Ahead of IPL 2026

The huge headline for this trading window is a multi-player deal with Sanju Samson going to CSK while Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran move to Royals. The final confirmation could come before the retention deadline.

RCB, fresh off their maiden IPL title in 2025, are set to retain most of their championship core.

Meanwhile, MI, KKR, and DC are gearing up for significant rebuilds.

How IPL 2026 Trading Works

Same-price player swaps between franchises

Different-price trades with cash adjustments

All-cash trades, where teams buy players outright and release them into the auction pool

With unlimited retentions, active trade talks, and a mega auction around the corner, IPL 2026 promises one of the most dramatic squad reshuffles in the league’s history.