IPL 2026 Full List Of Released & Retained Players, Major Surprises As Teams Reshuffle Squads Ahead Of Mini Auction

IPL 2026 Full List of Retained and Released Players: The retention deadline for the IPL 2026 season closed on Saturday, 15 November, with Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders emerging as the teams with the most significant reshuffles. Both sides released several marquee players, adding intrigue to the upcoming mini-auction scheduled for 16 December in Abu Dhabi. All 10 franchises submitted their retained and released lists, concluding weeks of speculation across the league.

IPL Teams Take Surprising Calls

The Indian Premier League earlier confirmed eight trades before the official broadcaster unveiled the complete retention lists. Among the biggest shocks was Kolkata Knight Riders’ decision to part ways with Andre Russell, one of their most defining match-winners. KKR retained Ajinkya Rahane, who remains the likely captain in case the franchise does not land a marquee leader at the auction.

Chennai Super Kings also made unexpected moves, releasing Matheesha Pathirana, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. Kolkata moved on from Andre Russell, Quinton de Kock and Venkatesh Iyer, while Lucknow Super Giants allowed star spinner Ravi Bishnoi to return to the auction pool.

With the auction nearing, franchises have begun refining their core groups, balancing between retaining proven performers and freeing up purse space for strategic upgrades. While many retentions were straightforward, several exclusions have raised questions.

Also Read: RCB IPL 2026: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Complete List Of Retained, Released Players, And Other Details

FULL IPL 2026 RETENTION LISTS

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Retained Players

Ruturaj Gaikwad
MS Dhoni
Dewald Brevis* (SA)
Ayush Mhatre
Urvil Patel
Anshul Kamboj
Jamie Overton* (ENG)
Ramakrishna Ghosh
Shivam Dube
Khaleel Ahmed
Noor Ahmad* (AFG)
Mukesh Choudhary
Nathan Ellis* (AUS)
Shreyas Gopal
Gurjapneet Singh
Sanju Samson – trade-in from RR

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Released Players

Ravindra Jadeja – trade-out to RR
Sam Curran* (ENG) – trade-out to RR
Rahul Tripathi
Vansh Bedi
Andre Siddarth
Rachin Ravindra* (NZ)
Deepak Hooda
Vijay Shankar
Shaik Rasheed
Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Matheesha Pathirana* (SL)
Devon Conway* (NZ)
Ravichandran Ashwin (retired)

Delhi Capitals (DC) Retained Players

KL Rahul
Karun Nair
Abishek Porel
Tristan Stubbs* (SA)
Axar Patel
Sameer Rizvi
Ashutosh Sharma
Vipraj Nigam
Ajay Mandal
Tripurana Vijay
Madhav Tiwari
Mitchell Starc* (AUS)
T. Natarajan
Mukesh Kumar
Dushmantha Chameera* (SL)
Kuldeep Yadav
Nitish Rana – trade-in from RR

Delhi Capitals (DC) Released Players

Donovan Ferreira* (SA) – trade-out to RR
Faf du Plessis* (SA)
Jake Fraser-McGurk* (AUS)
Sediqullah Atal* (AFG)
Manvanth Kumar
Mohit Sharma
Darshan Nalkande

Gujarat Titans (GT) Retained Players

Shubman Gill
Sai Sudharsan
Kumar Kushagra
Anuj Rawat
Jos Buttler* (ENG)
Nishant Sindhu
Glenn Phillips* (NZ)
Washington Sundar
Arshad Khan
Shahrukh Khan
Rahul Tewatia
Kagiso Rabada* (SA)
Mohammed Siraj
Prasidh Krishna
Ishant Sharma
Gurnoor Singh Brar
Rashid Khan* (AFG)
Manav Suthar
Sai Kishore
Jayant Yadav

Gujarat Titans (GT) Released Players

Sherfane Rutherford* (WI) – trade-out to MI
Mahipal Lomror
Karim Janat* (AFG)
Dasun Shanaka* (SL)
Gerald Coetzee* (SA)
Kulwant Khejroliya

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Retained Players

Ajinkya Rahane
Rinku Singh
Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Manish Pandey
Rovman Powell* (WI)
Anukul Roy
Ramandeep Singh
Vaibhav Arora
Sunil Narine* (WI)
Varun Chakaravarthy
Harshit Rana
Umran Malik

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Released Players

Mayank Markande – trade-out to MI
Andre Russell* (WI)
Venkatesh Iyer
Quinton de Kock* (SA)
Anrich Nortje* (SA)
Luvnith Sisodia
Rahmanullah Gurbaz* (AFG)
Moeen Ali* (ENG)
Chetan Sakariya
Spencer Johnson* (AUS)

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Retained Players

Rishabh Pant
Ayush Badoni
Abdul Samad
Aiden Markram* (SA)
Himmat Singh
Matthew Breetzke* (SA)
Nicholas Pooran* (WI)
Mitchell Marsh* (AUS)
Shahbaz Ahamad
Arshin Kulkarni
Mayank Yadav
Avesh Khan
Mohsin Khan
M. Siddharth
Digvesh Rathi
Prince Yadav
Akash Singh
Arjun Tendulkar – trade-in from MI
Mohammed Shami – trade-in from SRH

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Released Players

Shardul Thakur – trade-out to MI
David Miller* (SA)
Aryan Juyal
Yuvraj Chaudhary
Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Akash Deep
Ravi Bishnoi

Mumbai Indians (MI) Retained Players

Rohit Sharma
Surya Kumar Yadav
Robin Minz
Ryan Rickelton* (SA)
Tilak Varma
Hardik Pandya
Naman Dhir
Mitchell Santner* (NZ)
Will Jacks* (AUS)
Corbin Bosch* (SA)
Raj Bawa
Trent Boult* (NZ)
Jasprit Bumrah
Deepak Chahar
Ashwani Kumar
Raghu Sharma
Allah Ghazanfar* (AFG)
Mayank Markande – trade-in from KKR
Shardul Thakur – trade-in from LSG
Sherfane Rutherford* (WI) – trade-in from GT

Mumbai Indians (MI) Released Players

Arjun Tendulkar – trade-out to LSG
Satyanarayana Raju
Reece Topley* (ENG)
KL Shrijith
Karn Sharma
Bevon Jacobs* (SA)
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman* (AFG)
Lizaad Williams* (SA)
Vignesh Puthur

Punjab Kings (PBKS) Retained Players

Shreyas Iyer
Nehal Wadhera
Vishnu Vinod
Harnoor Pannu
Pyla Avinash
Prabhsimran Singh
Shashank Singh
Marcus Stoinis* (AUS)
Harpreet Brar
Marco Jansen* (SA)
Azmatullah Omarzai* (AFG)
Priyansh Arya
Musheer Khan
Suryansh Shedge
Mitch Owen* (AUS)
Arshdeep Singh
Yuzvendra Chahal
Vyshak Vijaykumar
Yash Thakur
Xavier Bartlett* (AUS)
Lockie Ferguson* (NZ)

Punjab Kings (PBKS)  Released Players

Josh Inglis* (AUS)
Aaron Hardie* (AUS)
Glenn Maxwell* (AUS)
Kuldeep Sen
Praveen Dubey

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Retained Players

Rajat Patidar
Virat Kohli
Tim David* (AUS)
Devdutt Padikkal
Phil Salt* (ENG)
Jitesh Sharma
Krunal Pandya
Jacob Bethell* (ENG)
Romario Shepherd* (WI)
Swapnil Singh
Josh Hazlewood* (AUS)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Rasikh Salam
Yash Dayal
Suyash Sharma
Nuwan Thushara* (SL)
Abhinandan Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Released Players

Mayank Agarwal
Swastik Chhikara
Tim Seifert* (NZ)
Liam Livingstone* (ENG)
Manoj Bhandage
Lungi Ngidi* (SA)
Mohit Rathee

Rajasthan Royals (RR) Retained Players

Shubham Dubey
Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Lhuan-dre Pretorius* (SA)
Shimron Hetmyer* (WI)
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Dhruv Jurel
Riyan Parag
Yudhvir Singh Charak
Jofra Archer* (ENG)
Tushar Deshpande
Fazalhaq Farooqi* (AFG)
Kwena Maphaka* (SA)
Nandre Burger* (SA)
Ravindra Jadeja – trade-in from CSK
Sam Curran* (ENG) – trade-in from CSK
Donovan Ferreira* (SA) – trade-in from DC

Rajasthan Royals (RR)  Released Players

Sanju Samson – trade-out to CSK
Nitish Rana – trade-out to DC
Kunal Singh Rathore
Maheesh Theekshana* (SL)
Wanindu Hasaranga* (SL)
Fazalhaq Farooqi* (AFG)
Akash Madhwal
Kumar Kartikeya
Ashok Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Retained Players

Travis Head* (AUS)
Abhishek Sharma
Aniket Verma
R Smaran
Ishan Kishan
Heinrich Klaasen* (SA)
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Harsh Dubey
Kamindu Mendis* (SL)
Harshal Patel
Brydon Carse* (ENG)
Pat Cummins* (AUS)
Jaydev Unadkat
Eshan Malinga* (SL)
Zeeshan Ansari

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Released Players

Mohammad Shami – trade-out to LSG
Abhinav Manohar
Atharva Taide
Sachin Baby
Wiaan Mulder* (SA)
Simarjeet Singh
Rahul Chahar
Adam Zampa* (AUS)

IPL 2026 Purse Balance and Remaining Slots

KKR: ₹64.3 crore (13 slots)

CSK: ₹43.4 crore (9 slots)

SRH: ₹25.5 crore (10 slots)

LSG: ₹22.95 crore (6 slots)

DC: ₹21.8 crore (8 slots)

RCB: ₹16.4 crore (8 slots)

RR: ₹16.05 crore (9 slots)

GT: ₹12.9 crore (5 slots)

PBKS: ₹11.5 crore (4 slots)

MI: ₹2.75 crore (5 slots)

Also Read: IPL 2026: Gujarat Titans Complete List Of Retained, Released Players, And Other Details