The IPL 2026 retained and released players list has been made public for all 10 teams ahead of the mini-auction. Each team has disclosed which players they are retaining and which ones they are releasing for the upcoming IPL season. The details include both domestic and overseas players, with notable names retained by their franchises and others up for auction.
A comprehensive list from each team includes players retained to form the core squad and those released likely to be available for selection by other franchises in the auction. This list outlines the strategies teams are taking into IPL 2026, balancing their squads between experience and new talent.
If a detailed view of each team’s retained and released players list is needed, such as specific player names per franchise, this can be provided or referred from the detailed announcement sources.
IPL 2026 Retained & Released Players:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Retained:
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee
Released:
- Liam Livingstone
- Lungi Ngidi
- Rasikh Dar
- Swapnil Singh
- Nuwan Thushara
- Manoj Bhandage
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Retained:
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Mayank Markande, Vaibhav Arora, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia (wk), Anukul Roy, Chetan Sakariya
Released:
- Quinton de Kock
- Moeen Ali
- Spencer Johnson
- Rovman Powell
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Anrich Nortje
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Retained:
Faf du Plessis, Ashutosh Sharma, Tripurana Vijay, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel, Darshan Nalkande, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Donovan Ferreira, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar
Released:
- Jake Fraser-McGurk
- Dushmantha Chameera
- Karun Nair
- Sameer Rizvi
- Manvanth Kumar L
- Madhav Tiwari
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Retained:
Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Josh Inglis, Lockie Ferguson, Harnoor Pannu, Kuldeep Sen, Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Pyla Avinash, Pravin Dubey
Released:
- Marcus Stoinis
- Glenn Maxwell
- Azmatullah Omarzai
- Nehal Wadhera
- Xavier Bartlett
- Aaron Hardie
- Marco Jansen
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Retained:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Kumar Kartikeya, Nitish Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kwena Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma
Released:
- Sanju Samson
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Akash Madhwal
- Fazalhaq Farooqi
- Shimron Hetmyer
- Sandeep Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Retained:
Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Travis Head, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga
Released:
- Heinrich Klaasen
- Mohammad Shami
- Brydon Carse
- Sachin Baby
- Ishan Kishan
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Retained:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Rachin Ravindra, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Shaik Rasheed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth
Released:
- Devon Conway
- Vijay Shankar
- Sam Curran
- Deepak Hooda
- Jamie Overton
- Mukesh Choudhary
- Rahul Tripathi
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Retained:
Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Aryan Juyal, Akash Deep, Himmat Singh, M. Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke
Released:
- Shamar Joseph
- David Miller
- Rajvardhan Hangargekar
- Digvesh Singh
- Mohsin Khan
Gujarat Titans (GT)
Retained:
Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Mahipal Lomror, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Kishore, Kulwant Khejroliya
Released:
- Rahul Tewatia
- Gerald Coetzee
- Ishant Sharma
- Jayant Yadav
- Karim Janat
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Retained:
Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Allah Ghazanfar, Mitchell Santner, Ryan Rickelton, Vignesh Puthur, Bevon Jacobs, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar, Arjun Tendulkar, Krishnan Shrijith
Released:
- Reece Topley
- Lizaad Williams
- Robin Minz
- Karn Sharma
- Satyanarayana Raju
IPL 2026 retentions see teams holding on to their core players while releasing some big names. CSK released Conway and Curran after a poor season, RR parted ways with Sanju Samson, and SRH let go of Ishan Kishan and Shami. PBKS dropped Stoinis and Maxwell, while KKR released de Kock and Venkatesh Iyer. MI, RCB, DC, and GT retained their main stars but made selective cuts. The 2026 auction is set to be exciting with several big players in the pool.
