Published on: Nov 17, 2025 6:02 pm IST|Updated on: Nov 24, 2025 3:48 pm IST
As the countdown for IPL 2026 begins, all 10 teams have finalized their squads ahead of the mini auctions slated to take place on December 15. With blockbuster trades, surprise releases, and strategic retentions, the pre-auction window has set the stage for a thrilling 19th edition of the Indian Premier League. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of each team’s retention strategy, released players, trades, purse availability, and remaining slots.
Released: Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodiya, Mayank Markande (traded to MI)
Retained: Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
3-time champions made some bold calls by releasing Russell and Venky Iyer, signaling a shift toward a younger core. With the biggest purse among all other teams, expect KKR to go big in the auctions.
Released: Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Vansh Bedi, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Andre Siddarth, Matheesha Pathirana, Shaikh Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ravindra Jadeja (traded to RR), Sam Curran (traded to RR)
Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Sanju Samson (traded in from RR)
The 5-time champions’ biggest move was trading Jadeja and Curran for Sanju Samson, hinting at a post-Dhoni leadership transition.
Released: Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder, Simarjeet Singh, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami (traded to LSG)
Retained: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniket Verma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kamindu Mendis, Eshan Malinga, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Smaran Ravichandran, Zeeshan Ansari
2009 (Deccan Chargers Hyderabad) and 2016 champions retained their overseas firepower while offloading Shami and Zampa to bolster their purse.
Released: David Miller, Shamar Joseph, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Aryan Juyal, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur (traded to MI)
Retained: Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arjun Tendulkar (traded in from MI), Mohammed Shami (traded in from SRH)
LSG strengthened their bowling with Shami and Arjun, while letting go of big names like David Miller and Ravi Bishnoi.
Released: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mohit Sharma, Francois du Plessis, Darshan Nalkande, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, Donovan Ferreira (traded to RR)
Retained: Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Nitish Rana (traded in from RR)
DC’s retention of Starc and trade for Rana adds balance to their squad setup for now.
Released: Tim Seifert, Manoj Bhandage, Liam Livingstone, Swastik Chikara, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee, Mayank Agarwal
Retained: Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thushara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Rasikh Dar
The reigning champions retained a strong core while releasing underperforming overseas players along with players who were brought into the squad last season as injury replacements.
Released: Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Kunal Singh Rathore, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Sanju Samson (traded to CSK), Nitish Rana (traded to DC)
Retained: Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh, Ravindra Jadeja (traded in from CSK), Sam Curran (traded in from CSK)
The inaugural champions pulled off a double trade coup, bringing in Jadeja and Curran to bolster their all-round options.
Released: Karim Janat, Dasun Shanaka, Mahipal Lomror, Gerald Coetzee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Sherfane Rutherford (traded to MI)
Retained: Ishant Sharma, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Brar, Jayant Yadav, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, B Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar
The 2022 champions retained a powerful core and traded Rutherford to MI, freeing up overseas slots.
Released: Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey
Retained: Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal
Last year’s finalists retained a deep squad, with minimal releases and a focus on continuity.
Released: Vignesh Puthur, Reece Topley, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Karn Sharma, Satyanaryana Raju, KL Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar (traded to LSG)
Retained: Rohit Sharma, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur (traded in from LSG), Mayank Markande (traded in from KKR), Sherfane Rutherford (traded in from GT)
The 5-time champions made strategic trades to reinforce their bowling while retaining their core batting unit.
Tags: IPL 2026