All IPL franchises are working hard on their squad planning right now. The IPL 2026 retained and released players list deadline arrives on November 15. Teams must submit everything to BCCI before that date passes. The mega auction happens around December 15-16 in Abu Dhabi probably.
IPL 2026 Retention Rules and Regulations
This season allows teams to keep unlimited names from their current squads. That’s different from previous years when limits existed for keeping cricketers. But the salary cap stays fixed at INR 120 crore total. Each franchise can have a maximum of 25 players in its final roster.
The trading window opened on June 4, right after IPL 2025 ended. Teams can swap until one week before the auction. Some massive trades are already being discussed between franchises currently.
All 10 Teams List Here
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Liam Livingstone
- Yash Dayal
- Swapnil Singh
- Rasikh Salam Dar
- Mohit Rathee
- Abhinandan Singh
Punjab Kings
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Harnoor Singh
- Glenn Maxwell
- Marcus Stoinis
- Aaron Hardie
- Musheer Khan
Mumbai Indians
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Reece Topley
- Krishnan Shrijith
- Satyanarayana Raju
- Bevon Jacobs
- Lizaad Williams
- Raj Bawa
Chennai Super Kings
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Devon Conway
- Rahul Tripathi
- Vijay Shankar
- Jamie Overton
- Kamlesh Nagarkoti
- Gurjapneet Singh
- Rachin Ravindra
- Deepak Hooda
- Ravichandran Ashwin
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Retain:
- Pat Cummins
- Travis Head
- Abhishek Sharma
- Heinrich Klassen
- Nitish Reddy
- Ishan Kishan
- Harsh Dubey
- Atharva Taide
- Abhinav Manohar
- Simarjeet Singh
- Zeeshan Ansari
- Kamindu Mendis
- Aniket Verma
- Eshan Malinga
Release:
- Mohammad Shami
- Harshal Patel
- Rahul Chahar
- Jaydev Unadkat
- Wiaan Mulder
- Sachin Baby
Kolkata Knight Riders
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz
- Moeen Ali
- Manish Pandey
- Rovman Powell
- Mayank Markande
- Anrich Nortje
- Umran Malik
- Chetan Sakariya
Delhi Capitals
Retain:
- Axar Patel
- Faf du Plessis
- Sediqullah Atal
- Sameer Rizvi
- Tristan Stubbs (WK)
- 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
Release:
- Karun Nair
- Dushmantha Chameera
- Donovan Ferreira
- Mohit Sharma
Rajasthan Royals
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Akash Madhwal
- Fazalhaq Farooqi
- Nandre Burger
- Maheesh Theekshana
Gujarat Titans
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Kusal Mendis
- Sherfane Rutherford
- Dasun Shanaka
- Gerald Coetzee
- Gurnoor Singh Brar
- Karim Janat
Lucknow Super Giants
Retain:
- 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
Release:
- Shamar Joseph
- Himmat Singh
- Abdul Samad
- Matthew Breetzke
- Akash Singh
- David Miller
- Shardul Thakur
Big Names in IPL’s Buzzing List
Sanju Samson might move from the Rajasthan Royals to the Chennai Super Kings. Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran could go to RR in exchange. That’s one of the biggest trades being finalized for next season.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their first trophy last season finally. They’ll keep most from that championship-winning squad intact. Other teams are making tougher calls about which champion stays back.
Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Delhi Capitals are rebuilding too. Their retained and released players lists will surely shock many fans.
How Player Trading Works for IPL 2026
Teams can trade in multiple ways before the auction. Same-price swaps happen most commonly between franchises wanting fresh faces. Different-price trades need cash adjustments added to balance everything out.
All-cash deals let teams buy directly from other franchises. These cricketers then enter the auction pool for everyone. IPL 2026 promises exciting squad changes across all ten teams soon.
