IPL 2026 Retention: Russell & Maxwell big names released, RCB retain tainted Yash Dayal

• Andre Russell (KKR)
• Matheesha Pathirana (CSK)
• Josh Inglis (PBKS)
• Ravi Bishnoi (LSG)
• Wanindu Hasaranga (RR)

CSK confirm Ruturaj Gaikwad to continue leading the team despite Sanju Samson moving in. MS Dhoni led the team last season in half of the matches with Gaikwad missing out with an injury. This time, there were speculations whether Samson will be the new leader but CSK have kept their faith in Gaikwad.  

Chennai Super Kings

Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, C Andre Siddarth, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Matheesha Pathirana

Trade out

• Sam Curran to RR
• Ravindra Jadeja to RR 

Mumbai Indians

Satyanarayana Raju, Reece Topley, KL Shrijith, Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur

Trade out

• Arjun Tendulkar to LSG

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee

Kolkata Knight Riders

Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje,

Trade out:

• Mayank Markande to MI

Delhi Capitals

Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande

Trade out

• Donovan Ferreira to RR 

Gujarat Titans

Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, Kulwant Khejroliya

Trade out:

• Sherfane Rutherford to MI 

Lucknow Super Giants

Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi, Shamar Joseph

Trade out

• Shardul Thakur to LSG

Punjab Kings

Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen

Rajasthan Royals

Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana

Trade out

• Sanju Samson to CSK
• Nitish Rana to DC

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby

Trade out

• Mohammed Shami

Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Rishabh Pant (c), Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh. Traded in: Mohammed Shami.

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.

Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Jofra Archer, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Nandre Burger.

Traded in

• Ravindra Jadeja (From CSK)
• Sam Curran (From CSK)

Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyala Avinash, Harnoor Pannu, Suryansh Shedge, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Lockie Ferguson, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod

Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Naman Dhir, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghafanzar, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks.

Traded in

• Sherfane Rutherford (from GT)
• Mayank Markande (from KKR)
• Shardul Thakur (from LSG)

Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma.

Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Varun Chakravarthy, Luvnith Sisodia, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ramandeep Singh, Ankul Roy, Rovman Powell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson

Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav.

Axar Patel (c), KL Rahul, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera.

Traded in: Nitish Rana.

Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis.

Traded in: Sanju Samson.

Retained Players

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Nitish Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kwena Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma, Lhuan-dre Pretorius.

RR Release List for IPL 2026

Lhuan-dre Pretorius (₹30 lakh), Maheesh Theeshana (₹2 Cr), Fazalhaq Farooqi (₹2 Cr), Kwena Mphaka (₹75 lakh), Sanju Samson (₹18 Cr-Traded to CSK), Nitish Rana (₹4.2 Cr-Traded to DC)

• Kolkata Knight Riders: 64.3cr.
• Chennai Super Kings: 43.4cr.
• Sunrisers Hyderabad: 25.5cr.
• Lucknow Supergiants: 22.95cr.
• Delhi Capitals: 21.8cr.
• Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 16.4cr.
• Rajasthan Royals: 16.05cr.
• Gujarat Titans: 12.9cr.
• Punjab Kings: 11.5cr
• Mumbai Indians: 2.75cr

Retained Players 

Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmanta Chameera

Released Players

Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mohit Sharma, Harry Brook, Donovan Ferreria, Manvanth Kumar, Darshan Nalkande

Retained Players

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

Released Players

Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Manoj Bhandage, Liam Livingstone, Lungi Ndgidi, Blessing Muzarabani and Mohit Rathee.

Jasprit Bumrah (₹18 crore), Hardik Pandya (C) (₹16.35 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (₹16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (₹16.30 crore), Tilak Varma (₹8 crore), Deepak Chahar (₹9.25 crore), Trent Boult (₹12.5 crore), Naman Dhir (₹5.25 crore), AM Ghazanfar (₹4.80 crore), Mitchell Santner (₹2 crore), Ryan Rickelton (₹1 crore), Robin Minz (₹65 lakh), Raj Angad Bawa (₹30 lakh), Ashwani Kumar (₹30 lakh), and Corbin Bosch (₹30 lakh).

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson (Trade in), Ravindra Jadeja (Trade out), Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleed Ahmed, Anhsul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary

• Rahul Tripathi
• Ravindra Jadeja (Trade out)
• Sam Curran (Trade out)
• Vansh Bedi
• Andre Siddharth
• Rachin Ravindra
• Deepak Hooda
• Vijay Shankar
• Shaik Rasheed
• Kamlesh Nagarkoti
• Devon Conway
• Matheesha Pathirana

Retained Players

Sanju Samson (Trade in), MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Matheesha Pathirana, Mukesh Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, and Shreyas Gopal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Gurjapneet Singh

Released Players

Vansh Bedi, Rahul Tripathi, Andre Siddarth, Rachin Ravindra, Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran (Trade out), Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ravindra Jadeja (Trade out)

The deadline for IPL 2026 Retention is over. And the announcement is arriving soon. Just a reminder, the trade window remains open till December 9, a week before the IPL auction on Dec 16.

Kolkata Knight Riders have parted ways with their marquee all-rounder Andre Russell, as per ESPN. Russell has been KKR's mainstay for 11 years, since 2014. 

Andre Russell for KKR

• Matches: 140
• Runs: 2,651
• Highest Score: 88 vs CSK
• Average: 28.20
• Strike Rate: 174.18
• Fifties: 12
• Sixes: 223

As per reports, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will offload Mayank Agarwal, who came in as an injury replacement for Devdutt Padikkal. Liam Livingstone is also on his way out after a poor last season. 

• Mayank Agarwal ❌
• Liam Livingstone ❌
• Blessing Muzarabani ❌
• Rasikh Dar ❌

The IND vs SA 1st Test, Day 2 is done and with that, we are heading towards the IPL 2026 Retention. Franchises have 30 minutes to go for submitting the retained players list. 

With Punjab Kings set to release Glenn Maxwell for a record third time, is it end of the road for the Australian all-rounder? He is 37 and with performance not up to the mark in IPL 2025, he might not find many suitors at the auction. But CSK could still try their luck as they need a spin all-rounder.

PBKS will also release Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Praveen Dubey and Kuldeep Sen. 

For the first time in the franchise's history, Royal Challengers Bengaluru do not have a lot of noise. They are calm with most of the players set to be retained. The only trade deal they will have his from their owners. Diageo is looking to offload RCB franchise and they will have a new owner. 

Will there be any surprises in release?

Who are GT releasing?

As per ESPN, Gujarat Titans will release Karim Janat, Gerald Coetzee, Mahipal Lomror, Dasun Shanka and Kulwant Khejroliya. GT have already traded Sherfane Rutherford to Mumbai Indians.

IPL auctions, especially the mini ones, have had the most surprises. Mini auctions have given us the most expensive players. However, this time with so many trade deals before the auction, IPL might be moving to a football-like transfer season, diminishing auction's value and flavour. A new era, as per R Ashwin. 

"So many trades before the mini auction augur well for the league. It’s also indicative of the mindset franchises have about the mini auction."

ESPN Cricinfo is reporting that Delhi Capitals have retained T Natarajan. DC picked up Natarajan from the auction for Rs 10.75 cr. While injury did not help his time at DC, the franchise is expecting him to play a big part next season. 

"Thank you for the memories. It’s been an honour wearing the badge and being part of the team. Can’t wait to join LSG, see you soon," Arjun wrote on being traded from MI to LSG. The bowler was traded for a sum of Rs 30 lakh after he was underutilized by Mumbai Indians across seasons

RCB seem to be the least worried ahead of the retention deadline, as they found a perfect balance across departments in IPL 2025 where they won their maiden trophy. As per reports, the team is likely to release Liam Livingstone, Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Slam Dar and Blessing Muzarabani.

All eyes will be on one man as far as KKR is concerned and it is Venkatesh Iyer. At almost Rs 24 crore, his retention or release will make or break the IPL auction for KKR. 

Mayank Markande has gone to MI. The likes of Umran Malik, Spencer Johnson, Moeen Ali, and Ajinkya Rahane could be released 

Despite a pay cut, Ravindra Jadeja will earn Rs 14 crore per IPL season with Rajasthan Royals

As per ESPNcricinfo, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett and Mitchell Owen are all set to be retained! 

Apart from Glenn Maxwell, Ricky Ponting is kepeing his overseas core intact

Lucknow Super Giants thrilled their fans by bringing in Mohammed Shami from SRH for a whopping Rs 10 crore. They should take harsh calls on Mayank Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi, who both earn Rs 11 crore each. 

David Miller is set to be released as well alongside Shamar Joseph. 

Expected IPL auction purse: Rs 25-30 crore

The IPL 2025 runners up, Punjab Kings (PBKS) have all their bases covered. While they were interested in Sanju Samson trade, nothing transpired. 

They would look to release the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Mitchell Owen and Kyle Jamieson
Expected IPL auction purse: Rs 15-20 crore

PBKS weren't involved in any trade. 

The Hardik Pandya-led side has done an amazing business before the IPL 2026 auctions as they have filled the lower-middle order gap by bringing in Shardul Thakur (Rs 2 cr) and Sherfane Rutherford (Rs 2.40 cr) from LSG and GT, respectively. They have even signed Mayank Markande from KKR. 

They would look to release the likes of Reece Topley, Will Jacks (maybe), Lizaad Williams, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Bevon Jacobs
Expected IPL auction purse: Rs 15-18 crore

😂Funny Co-incidenet

🚨Taking a whopping Rs 14 crore per year, Matheesha Pathirana is set to be released by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) [Source: ESPNcricinfo] 
The Sri Lankan pacer was unearthed by CSK in the IPL and had two fruitful years before a poor IPL 2025, where he leaked runs at an economy of 10.41

😍New Chinna Thala? 

Chennai Super Kings get Sanju Samson for Rs 18 crore. A household name. A keeping option. MS Dhoni's successor. A potential captaincy option. 

🔴Well, as for the other CSK outgoings, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda and Vijay Shankar are set to be released. 

• Ravindra Jadeja - CSK to RR - ₹14 crore 
• Sam Curran - CSK to RR - ₹2.4 crore 
• Nitish Rana - RR to DC - ₹4.2 crore 
• Mohammed Shami - SRH to LSG - ₹10 crore 
• Mayank Markande - KKR to MI - ₹30 lakh 
• Arjun Tendulkar - MI to LSG - ₹30 lakh 
• Donovan Ferreira - DC to RR - ₹1 crore 
• Sherfane Rutherford - GT to MI - ₹2.40 crore 
• Shardul Thakur - LSG to MI - ₹2 crore