Here’s everything you need to know about the IPL 2026 retention deadline and released players last date.
The build-up to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season has already begun, and one of the most important steps before the mini-auction is the IPL retention deadline. This is the time when all 10 franchises decide which players they want to keep and which ones they plan to release.
The IPL 2026 retention deadline and the released players last date is likely to be November 15, although the BCCI has not officially confirmed.
By this date, all 10 teams will have to share the list of players they plan to keep and the ones they want to release before the mini-auction.
Unlike the mega-auction, where teams can retain only a few players, this time, franchises have the freedom to retain as many players as they want, even their entire squad if they wish. But to sign new players at the auction, they must release some players to make room and increase the money available in their purse.
The IPL retention deadline is an important time for every team. Franchises must be reviewing performances and deciding which players fit into their plans for next season.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who struggled last season, are expected to make many big changes. CSK, in particular, will have INR 9.75 crore added to their purse after Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement, as that was the amount they paid for him in the IPL 2025 auction. This extra money will help them go after new players when the auction comes around.
There’s also a big change in the salary cap. Each team will now have INR 151 crore to spend in the IPL 2026 auction, a big jump from INR 120 crore last season.
One of the key parts of the process is the Right to Match (RTM) card rule. It allows teams to buy back a released player by matching the highest bid from another team. However, this time, the highest bidder will get one last chance to raise their bid before the RTM card is used.
Retained: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Swastik Chikara, Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya, Manoj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Yash Dayal, Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Salam, and Nuwan Thushara.
Released: Liam Livingstone, Lungi Ngidi, Rasikh Salam, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh, and Swapnil Singh.
Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Priyash Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyashak, Yash Thakur, Musheer Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Suryansh Shedge, and Mitch Owen.
Released: Glenn Maxwell, Ashmatullah Omarzai, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen, Pyla Avinash, Pravin Dubey, and Harnoor Pannu.
Retained: Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Trent Boult, Mitch Santner, Bevon Jacobs, Corbin Bosch, Vignesh Puthur, Karn Sharma, KL Srijith, Raj Bawa, Arjun Tendulkar, AM Ghazanfar, and Ashwani Kumar.
Released: Deepak Chahar, Reece Topley, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Satyanarayana Raju, and Robin Minz.
Retained: Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Sai Sudharsan, Rashid Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, R Sai Kishore, Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Anuj Rawat, and Gurnoor Brar.
Released: Glenn Phillips, Gerald Coetzee, Ishant Sharma, Karim Janat, Mahipal Lomror, Jayant Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya, Manav Suthar, and Kumar Kushagra.
Retained: KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Viprag Nigam, Faf du Plessis, Tristan Stubbs. Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Abishek Porel, Donovan Ferreira, Mukesh Kumar, and Mitchell Starc.
Released: Dushmantha Chameera, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Tripurana Vijay, Manvanth Kumar L, and Madhav Tiwari.
Retained: Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, Ishan Kishan, Aniket Verma, Jaydev Unadkat, Simarjeet Singh, Kamindu Mendis, Zeeshan Ansari, Smaran Ravichandran, Eshan Malinga, and Harsh Dubey.
Released: Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa, Brydon Carse, Wiaan Mulder, Sachin Baby, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, and Rahul Chahar.
Retained: Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Mayank Yadav, Akash Singh, William O’Rourke, Digvesh Rathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Akash Deep, and M Siddharth.
Released: Shardul Thakur, David Miller, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmad, Rajvardhan Hagargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, and Shamar Joseph.
Retained: Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Luvnith Sisodia, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Umran Malik, and Mayank Markande.
Released: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Shivam Shukla, and Chetan Sakariya.
Retained: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, and Jofra Archer.
Released: Wanindu Hasaranga, Kunal Singh Rathore, Tushar Deshpande, Kumar Kartikeya, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nandre Burger, and Nitish Rana.
Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Matheesha Pathirana, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Noor Ahmad, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Nathan Ellis, Vansh Bedi, and Ramakrishna Ghosh.
Released: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Jamie Overton, Vijay Shankar, Gurjapneet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Shreyas Gopal, C Andre Siddarth, and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.
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