Mumbai: Top Indian players, including Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, K.L. Rahul, M.S. Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and ARshdeep Singh, were among those retained by their respective franchises while big names like Andre Russell, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Adam Zampa, and David Miller were released as the retention window closed ahead of next month’s mini-auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
The biggest trade was for Rajasthan Royals’ wicketkeeper-batman/captain Sanju Samson, which saw him go to five-time champion Chennai Super Kings in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. India’s 2023 ODI World Cup hero Mohammed Shami was picked by Lucknow Super Giants among other major moves.
The player retention window for the IPL 2026 season closed on Saturday with all 10 franchises confirming their retained players ahead of the auction.
Across teams, a total of 173 players have been retained, including 49 overseas players. A combined purse of ₹237.55 crore will be available at the auction for a total of 77 player slots.
With each team allowed to have a maximum squad of 25 players, Punjab Kings have opted to retain 21 players, the most among the 10 franchises, while Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans have retained 20 players each.
Three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders retained the least number of players, 12, while Sunrisers Hyderabad were second with 15 players. Five-time winners Chennai Super Kings retained only 17 players, including four overseas, while Delhi Capitals opted for 17 (3 overseas).
The IPL Player Auction will take place on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Heading into the auction, Kolkata Knight Riders will have a purse of ₹64.3 crore, the largest among the group, to fill a maximum of 13 slots with six overseas spots available. Chennai Super Kings will have the second-biggest kitty of ₹43.4 crore to fill a maximum of nine available slots.
List of players retained by the franchises:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
16 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹81.60 | Cap remaining: ₹43.40
Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, *Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, *Nathan Ellis, *Noor Ahmad, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sanju Samson (T), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, *Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel.
Delhi Capitals (DC)
17 players retained | 3 overseas | Total spent: ₹103.20 | Cap remaining: ₹21.80
Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, *Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, *Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana (T), Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, *Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam.
Gujarat Titans (GT)
20 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹112.10 | Cap remaining: ₹12.90
Anuj Rawat, *Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, *Jos Buttler, *Kagiso Rabada, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammad Siraj, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R. Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, *Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
12 players retained | 2 overseas | Total spent: ₹60.70 | Cap remaining: ₹64.30
Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, *Rovman Powell, *Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
19 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹102.05 | Cap remaining: ₹22.95
Abdul Samad, *Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (T), Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, *Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Md Shami (T), *Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, *Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed
Mumbai Indians (MI)
20 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹122.25 | Cap remaining: ₹2.75
*Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, *Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande (T), *Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, *Ryan Rickelton, Shardul Thakur (T), *Sherfane Rutherford (T), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, *Trent Boult, *Will Jacks
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
21 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹113.50 | Cap remaining: ₹11.50
Arshdeep Singh, *Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, *Lockie Ferguson, *Marco Jansen, *Marcus Stoinis, *Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, *Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
16 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.95 | Cap remaining: ₹16.05
Dhruv Jurel, *Donovan Ferreira (T), *Jofra Archer, *Kwena Maphaka, *Lhuan-Dre Pretorious, *Nandre Burger, Ravindra Jadeja (T), Riyan Parag, *Sam Curran (T), Sandeep Sharma, *Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Charak
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
17 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.60 | Cap remaining: ₹16.40
Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, *Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, *Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, *Nuwan Thushara, *Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, *Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, *Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
15 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹99.50 | Cap remaining: ₹25.50
Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, *Brydon Carse, *Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, *Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, *Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, *Pat Cummins, Smaran Ravichandaran, *Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari
Notes: Amounts are in crores, while * denotes overseas players.
(IANS)
