IPL 2026: List of Retained and Released Players

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is India's premier domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament. It features franchises representing cities and states and brings together top Indian and international players in high-intensity, short-format matches. The league draws massive viewership, offers huge player earnings, and combines sport with entertainment. As we look ahead to IPL 2026, it's helpful to reflect on recent seasons. In 2023, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) clinched the title. In 2024, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lifted the trophy. Most recently, in 2025, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) emerged champions for the first time.

Talking of overall success, CSK and the Mumbai Indians (MI) share the record for most IPL trophies to date. In this article, we'll take a look at the retained and released players ahead of IPL 2026, who the teams kept, who they let go, and what that means for the coming season.

List of IPL Retained Players for IPL 2026

The player retention window for the TATA IPL 2026 season ended on November 15, 2025. All 10 teams confirmed which players they will keep before the auction. In total, 173 players have been retained, including 49 overseas players. Teams will enter the auction with a combined purse of ₹237.55 crore to fill 77 remaining slots. Each squad can have up to 25 players. Punjab Kings kept the most players with 21, while Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans retained 20 each.

The IPL Player Auction will be held on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the auction with the biggest purse of ₹64.3 crore and can fill up to 13 slots, including six overseas spots. Chennai Super Kings have the second-largest purse of ₹43.4 crore with nine slots open.

IPL 2026: Squad Size, Salary Cap & Available Slots

The table below shows each team's squad size, open slots, and remaining budget.

IPL 2026: Retained Players List 

Here is a clear look at all 10 IPL teams and their retained squads for the 2026 season. Each team has confirmed its total players, overseas players, money spent, and remaining purse ahead of the auction.

1. Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

16 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹81.60 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹43.40 Cr

Players: 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

2. Delhi Capitals (DC)

17 players retained | 3 overseas | Total spent: ₹103.20 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹21.80 Cr

Players: 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

3. Gujarat Titans (GT)

20 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹112.10 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹12.90 Cr

Players: 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, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill

4. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

12 players retained | 2 overseas | Total spent: ₹60.70 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹64.30 Cr

Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, *Rovman Powell, *Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

5. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

19 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹102.05 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹22.95 Cr

Players: 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

6. Mumbai Indians (MI)

20 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹122.25 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹2.75 Cr

Players: *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

7. Punjab Kings (PBKS)

21 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹113.50 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹11.50 Cr

Players: 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

8. Rajasthan Royals (RR)

16 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.95 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹16.05 Cr

Players: 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

9. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

17 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.60 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹16.40 Cr

Players: 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

10. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

15 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹99.50 Cr | Cap remaining: ₹25.50 Cr

Players: 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

TATA IPL 2026: Released Players List

Here is a simple overview of all released players for the TATA IPL 2026 season. Each team has let go of several players to free up purse space ahead of the auction. The table below shows every released player, their team, and the deduction amount.