With the IPL 2026 auction on the horizon, all ten franchises have finalized their retention lists, player releases, and trade moves. Here’s an overview of where each squad currently stands and what each team will be looking for in the auction.
IPL 2026 Squad list, retention list and trade moves
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Players Released/Traded Out
Donovan Ferreira (to RR), Darshan Nalkande, Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sediqullah Atal
Players Retained/Traded In
Nitish Rana (from RR), Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam
Purse Remaining
INR 21.80 crore
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Slots Available
8 (5 overseas)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
With the departures of Fraser-McGurk and du Plessis, DC need new top-order options urgently. They also need more overseas players, having retained only three.
Gujarat Titans (GT)
Players Released/Traded Out
Sherfane Rutherford (to MI), Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mahipal Lomror
Players Retained/Traded In
Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Brar, Ishant Sharma, 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
Purse Remaining
INR 12.90 crore
Slots Available
5 (4 overseas)
Strategy of Auction for IPL 2026
GT need to find a reliable finisher for Rutherford’s spot. Another allrounder will also make their squad look more complete.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Players Released/Traded Out
Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodia, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Spencer Johnson, Venkatesh Iyer
Players Retained/Traded In
Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Purse Remaining
INR 64.30 crore
Slots Available
13 (6 overseas)
Strategy for IPL Auction 2026
KKR need both a wicketkeeper and an opening batter after releasing de Kock and Gurbaz. They also require an allrounder of high quality, given the absences of Russell and Iyer – something their massive purse allows them to pursue aggressively.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Players Released/Traded Out
Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Ravi Bishnoi, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Shardul Thakur (to MI), Akash Deep, Shamar Joseph
Players Retained/Traded In
Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed
Purse Remaining
INR 22.95 crore
Slots Available
6 (4 overseas)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
LSG need suitable replacements for David Miller and Ravi Bishnoi. Securing a dependable allrounder will also be a key priority.
MI stands for Mumbai Indians.
Players Released/Traded Out
Arjun Tendulkar (to LSG), Bevon Jacobs, Karn Sharma, Lizaad Williams, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Satyanarayana Raju, Vignesh Puthur
Players Retained/Traded In
Shardul Thakur (from LSG), Sherfane Rutherford (from GT), Mayank Markande (from KKR), AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks
Purse Remaining
INR 2.75 crore
Slots Available
5 (1 overseas)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
MI look balanced but may add domestic spin options to support Markande and Raghu Sharma.
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Players Released/Traded Out
Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey
Players Retained/Traded In
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
Purse Remaining
INR 11.50 crore
Slots Available
4 (2 overseas)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
A stable core and limited purse mean PBKS can be expected to have a quiet auction, with only minor tweaks.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Players Released/Traded Out
Sanju Samson (to CSK), Nitish Rana (to DC), Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Singh Rathore, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga
Players Retained/Traded In
Donovan Ferreira (from DC), Ravindra Jadeja (from CSK), Sam Curran (from CSK), Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh
Purse Remaining
INR 16.05 crore
Slots Available
9 (1 abroad)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
RR need specialist spinners as a replacement after letting go of Hasaranga, Theekshana, and Kartikeya. They might opt for an experienced pacer too.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Players Released
Liam Livingstone, Lungi Ngidi, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Bhandage, Swastik Chikara, Mohit Rathee
Players Retained
Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Dar, Swapnil Singh
Purse Remaining
INR 16.40 crore
Slots Available
8 (2 abroad)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026
RCB need an overseas fast-bowling backup for Hazlewood, especially considering his heavy workload is expected. A reserve option for Yash Dayal is a must, too.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Players Released/Traded Out Mohammed Shami (to LSG), Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Abhinav Manohar, Wiaan Mulder, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Chahar
Players Retained/Traded In 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, R Smaran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari
Purse Remaining INR 25.50 crore Slots Available 10 (2 foreign)
Auction Strategy for IPL 2026 After releasing both Zampa and Chahar, SRH must target at least two quality spinners along with an allrounder and another Indian pacer.
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