The build-up to the IPL 2026 auction intensified on Saturday as all 10 franchises submitted their official retention and release lists, triggering a wave of high-profile exits and blockbuster trades ahead of the new season.
While Punjab Kings held on to the largest squad with 21 retentions, Kolkata Knight Riders opted for a leaner roster, retaining just 12 players—the fewest among all teams. The release of long-time KKR stalwart Andre Russell, along with big names such as Venkatesh Iyer and Quinton de Kock, marked one of the biggest surprises of the announcement.
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings signalled a phase of transition, parting ways with 13 players, including veterans Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, both traded to Rajasthan Royals, and the recently retired Ravichandran Ashwin.
Unlike mega-auction years, franchises were allowed to retain most of their squads this season as long as they complied with the salary purse of Rs 120 crore and maintained an 18–25 player roster.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru preserved most of their title-winning core, retaining 17 players, including Virat Kohli, while several franchises executed major trades to plug key gaps ahead of the new cycle.
Team-wise IPL 2026 Retentions and Releases
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Retained: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh
Released: Mayank Agarwal, Swastik Chhikara, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee
- Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Harnoor Pannu, Pyla Avinash, Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Harpreet Brar, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Mitch Owen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Xavier Bartlett, Lockie Ferguson
Released: Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey
- Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Sanju Samson (trade-in from RR)
Released: Ravindra Jadeja (trade-out to RR), Sam Curran (trade-out to RR), Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Matheesha Pathirana, Devon Conway, Ravichandran Ashwin (retired)
- Mumbai Indians (MI)
Retained: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande (trade-in), Shardul Thakur (trade-in), Sherfane Rutherford (trade-in)
Released: Arjun Tendulkar (trade-out to LSG), Satyanarayana Raju, Reece Topley, KL Shrijith, Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur
- Delhi Capitals (DC)
Retained: KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana (trade-in from RR)
Released: Donovan Ferreira (trade-out to RR), Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande
- Gujarat Titans (GT)
Retained: Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav
Released: Sherfane Rutherford (trade-out to MI), Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, Kulwant Khejroliya
- Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Retained: Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Umran Malik
Released: Mayank Markande (trade-out to MI), Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Luvnith Sisodia, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson
- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Retained: Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahamad, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (trade-in), Mohammed Shami (trade-in from SRH)
Released: Shardul Thakur (trade-out to MI), David Miller, Aryan Juyal, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi
- Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Retained: Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, Ravindra Jadeja (trade-in), Sam Curran (trade-in), Donovan Ferreira (trade-in)
Released: Sanju Samson (trade-out to CSK), Nitish Rana (trade-out to DC), Kunal Singh Rathore, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Retained: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari
Released: Mohammed Shami (trade-out to LSG), Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa
