The final retention lists for the IPL 2026 season have dropped, confirming a strategic divide among franchises. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) delivered the most significant shockwave, releasing franchise icon Andre Russell in a bold financial move aimed at maximizing their auction purse. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opted for a calculated cleanse, letting go of several high-value overseas players and key domestic veterans to overhaul their aging squad. These decisions, coupled with two massive pre-deadline trades involving Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja, have flooded the auction pool with elite talent, ensuring next month bidding war will be the most explosive in year
IPL 2026 Retention List of All Teams
Chennai Super kings
Ruturaj Gaikwad , Ms Dhoni , Sanju Samson (Trade), Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Shivam Dube, Nathan Ellis, Noor Ahmad, Jaime Overtone, Anshul Kamboj , Gurjapaneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary , Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Urvil Patel
Mumbai Indians
Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande (T), Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, , Sherfane Rutherford (T), Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa , Robin Minz , Allah Ghazanfar , Naman Dhir
Punjab Kings
Shreyas Iyer, Prabhsimran Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Priyansh Arya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Lockie Ferguson , Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijayakumar, Xavier Barttlet, Yash Thakur
Delhi Capitals
Axar Patel, Kl Rahul, Karun Nair, kuldeep Yadav, Ashutosh Sharma, Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Starc, Vipraj Nigam, T. Natarajan , Nitish Rana (T), Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Dushmantha Chameera, Madhav Tiwari, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Tripurana vijay
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Smaran Ravichandran , Zeeshan Ansari
Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja (T), Sam Curran (T), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka , Lhuan De Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira , Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer , Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Charak
Gujarat Gaints
Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Jos Buttler, Mohammad Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Shahrukh Khan , Ishant Sharma, Prasidh Krishna , Sai Kishore, Sai Sudarshan, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra , Manav Suthar, Mohd. Arshad Khan , Nishant Sindhu, Rahul Tewatia
Lucknow Super Gaints
Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Shami (T), Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Mayank Yadav, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzkee, Arjun Tendulkar (T), Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed , Mohsin Khan, Abdul Samad, Akash Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders
Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi , Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Urman Malik, Vaibhav Arora
Royal Challengers Bangaluru
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Tushara, Devdutt Padikkal, Kunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Dar , Romario Shepherd, Suyansh Sharma, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh , Abhinandan Singh