IPL 2026 Retentions, Releases and Team Purse Ahead of Mini Auction

Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders led the list of major shake-ups on the IPL 2026 retention deadline, releasing the highest number of players on Saturday, 15 November.

Several big names were shown the door as all 10 franchises finalised their squads, ending weeks of speculation. The Indian Premier League confirmed eight trades earlier in the day, before the official broadcaster unveiled the full retention lists. KKR made the biggest statement by releasing Andre Russell, one of the franchise’s greatest match-winners. The two-time champions retained Ajinkya Rahane, who is expected to continue as captain unless the team secures a marquee leader at the mini-auction.

Chennai Super Kings also stunned fans by letting go of Matheesha Pathirana, the Sri Lankan pacer who had earned MS Dhoni’s trust with his death-overs brilliance.

Meanwhile, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Mumbai Indians and last season’s runners-up Punjab Kings opted for stability, keeping most of their core intact. For Punjab Kings, this marks a rare year without a major overhaul, as captain Shreyas Iyer and coach Ricky Ponting focus on continuity.

Delhi Capitals took a different route, backing their young domestic core. Despite their heavy investment last season, the franchise released Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook and Jake Fraser-McGurk, while retaining T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar.

Top Five Released Players

1. Venkatesh Iyer – ₹23.75 crore (KKR)

2. Andre Russell – ₹12 crore (KKR)

3. Matheesha Pathirana – ₹13 crore (CSK)

4. Ravi Bishnoi – ₹11 crore (LSG)

5. Liam Livingstone – ₹8.75 crore (RCB)

Lucknow Super Giants also made a notable call by releasing David Miller, one of T20 cricket’s most destructive finishers, but retained Mayank Yadav despite recurring injury concerns.

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IPL 2026: Full Retained and Released Players List

Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Released: Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje
Slots: 13 (6 overseas)
Purse: ₹64.3 crore

Chennai Super Kings

Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson (trade), Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Choudhary, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Nathan Ellis, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Noor Ahmed, Shreyas Gopal
Released: Ravindra Jadeja, Matheesha Pathirana, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Sam Curran, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Shaikh Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Slots: 9
Purse: ₹43.4 crore

Gujarat Titans

Retained: Shubman Gill (C), Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Glenn Phillips
Released: Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Dasun Shanaka, Mahipal Lomror
Slots: 5
Purse: ₹12.9 crore

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Retained: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thushara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Rasikh Dar

Released: Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee
Slots: 8
Purse: ₹16.4 crore

Delhi Capitals

Retained: Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, 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)
Released: Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Sediqullah Atal, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Manvanth Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira
Slots: 8
Purse: ₹21.8 crore

Punjab Kings

Retained: Shreyas Iyer (C), Nehal Wadhera, Priyansh Arya, Shashank Singh, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Pannu, Musheer Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Amatullah Omarzai, Suryansh Shedge, Mitchell Owen, Arshdeep Singh, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Xavier Bartlett, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar
Released: Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey
Slots: 4
Purse: ₹11.5 crore

Mumbai Indians

Retained: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Hardik Pandya (C), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, AM Ghazanfar
Released: Satyanarayana Raju, Reece Topley, KL Shrijith, Karm Sharma, Arjun Tendulkar, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur
Slots: 5
Purse: ₹2.75 crore

Lucknow Super Giants

Retained: Rishabh Pant (C), Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, M Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh
Released: David Miller, Ravi Bishnoi (retained ahead of auction), Akash Deep, Aryan Juyal, Shamar Joseph, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Slots: 6
Purse: ₹22.95 crore

Rajasthan Royals

Retained: Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh, Ravindra Jadeja (trade), Sam Curran (trade), Donnovan Ferreira (trade)
Released: Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazal Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana
Slots: 9
Purse: ₹16.05 crore

SunRisers Hyderabad

Retained: Pat Cummins (C), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R. Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari
Released: Mohammed Shami (trade), Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby
Slots: 10
Purse: ₹25.5 crore

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Team Purse Summary

• KKR: ₹64.3 cr (13 slots)

• CSK: ₹43.4 cr (9 slots)

• SRH: ₹25.5 cr (10 slots)

• LSG: ₹22.95 cr (6 slots)

• DC: ₹21.8 cr (8 slots)

• RCB: ₹16.4 cr (8 slots)

• RR: ₹16.05 cr (9 slots)

• GT: ₹12.9 cr (5 slots)

• PBKS: ₹11.5 cr (4 slots)

• MI: ₹2.75 cr (5 slots)