The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season has already begun to be anticipated, and the IPL retention deadline is the step that comes before the mini-auction. This stage is when the 10 franchises make the final decision on whether a player is worth keeping or releasing.
When is IPL 2026 Retention Deadline? Released Players Last Date
The BCCI has not yet officially confirmed, but the IPL 2026 retention deadline and the last date for the released players are expected to be November 15.
By the given date, all 10 teams must submit the players’ lists to the IPL that consist of both the ones they will keep and the ones they are willing to release before the mini-auction.
No Retention Limit
The case is quite the opposite in the mini-auction, where the franchises can only unfreeze a limited number of players, while in this scenario, they can choose to unfreeze all the players they own or just a few of them. But if the franchises hold players at the auction, they will have to release some to create space and increase the money in their budget.
The time of the IPL retention deadline takes place every year in all its glory and splendor. No team is exempt from constant performance evaluations and the hungry and thirsty for new players’ decision-making process that scouts’ reports reveal.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who have been through tough times the last season, are highly likely to change their line-up a lot. CSK specifically will have an addition of INR 9.75 crore in their kitty after Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement as that was the amount the Super Kings shelled out for him during the IPL 2025 auction. This extra cash will not only soften the Super Kings’ urge for new players when the next auction takes place but also make them a lucrative destination for other players.
Salary Cap Increased for IPL 2026
Moreover, the salary cap has undergone a tremendous shift. The IPL 2026 auction will see each team having INR 151 crore at its disposal, which is a significant increase from INR 120 crore in the previous season.
Among the most important aspects of the whole process is the Right to Match (RTM) card rule. It gives teams the option to acquire a player who has been released by matching the highest bid from another team. Nonetheless, in this case, the highest bidder will be given one last opportunity to increase their bid before the RTM card is utilized.
Likely player Release or retention ahead of IPL 2026
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
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 , and Nuwan Thushara.
Released: Liam Livingstone, Lungi Ngidi, Rasikh Salam, Mohit Rathee, Abhinandan Singh, and Swapnil Singh.
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
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.
Mumbai Indians (MI)
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.
Gujarat Titans (GT)
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 Khejrliya, Manav Suthar, and Kumar Kushagra.
Delhi Capitals (DC)
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.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Retained: Pat Cummins, 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, Heinrich Klaasen, Adam Zampa, Brydon Carse, Wiaan Mulder, Sachin Baby, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, and Rahul Chahar.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
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.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
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.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Retained: 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, Sanju Samson, Tushar Deshpande, Kumar Kartikeya, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nandre Burger, and Nitish Rana.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
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.
