As the IPL 2026 mega auction draws nearer, the ten franchises are working on their rosters. The teams have until November 15 to submit to the BCCI their final list of players who will be retained and those who will be released, while the mega auction is scheduled for December 15-16 at Abu Dhabi.

The current season signifies a major transformation: on one hand, the franchises are allowed to retain players in unlimited numbers, while on the other hand, the previous system is completely reversed. However, the total salary budget will still be the same as before, which is ₹120 crores, and the maximum number of players in the final squad for each franchise will be 25.

The trading window that was opened on June 4, right after IPL 2025, will remain open until one week prior to the auction, and it has already been speculated that some major deals are about to take place.

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IPL 2026: Team-Wise Retained and Released Players

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Major Trade Buzz Ahead of IPL 2026

A monumental trade rumor for the season is the one including Sanju Samson shifting to CSK, and the movement of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to RR. The announcement will be made just before the deadline set for retention.

RCB, who just won their first Indian Premier League title in 2025, will keep the majority of their winning team. At the same time, MI, KKR, and DC are doing major changes in their teams.

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How IPL 2026 Trades Work

• Same-price player swaps
• Trades with cash adjustments
• Full cash deals, where a franchise buys a player outright and releases them into the auction pool

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With unlimited retentions, high-voltage trade talks, and a mega auction around the corner, IPL 2026 is shaping up to deliver one of the biggest squad shake-ups in league history.