The franchises have confirmed their retentions and releases ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Here is a look at how the teams are placed going into the auction, and what holes they will be looking to fill.
Chennai Super Kings
Players released: Ravindra Jadeja (traded to RR), Andre Siddarth, Deepak Hooda, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Matheesha Pathirana, Sam Curran (traded to RR), Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rahul Tripathi, Shaikh Rasheed, Vansh Bedi, Vijay Shankar
Players retained: MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (traded in from RR), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brewis, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj
Purse remaining: INR 43.40 crores
Slots remaining: 9 (including 4 overseas)
What they need at the auction: A gun overseas allrounder to replace Curran. They have the purse to go hammer and tongs for Russell, Maxwell, Livingstone or Green. They'll also look to sign a pace back-up for Ellis.
Delhi Capitals
Players released/traded out: Donovan Ferreira (traded to RR), Darshan Nalkande, Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sediqullah Atal
Players retained/traded in: Nitish Rana (traded in 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
Slots remaining: 8 (5 overseas)
What they need at the auction: DC need top-order options after they let go of Fraser-McGurk and du Plessis. Plus more overseas players since they are left with only three.
Gujarat Titans
Players released/traded out: Sherfane Rutherford (traded 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 remaining: 5 (4 overseas)
What they need at the auction: A finisher, now that they are without Rutherford. They could also look at adding at least one allrounder to the mix.
Kolkata Knight Riders
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 remaining: 13 (6 overseas)
What they need at the auction: KKR could go in search of a wicketkeeper as well as an opening batter, since they have left out de Kock and Gurbaz. Them leaving out Iyer and Russell means they could well do with an allrounder. And their huge purse will allow them to do that.
Lucknow Super Giants
Players released/traded out: Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Ravi Bishnoi, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Shardul Thakur (traded to MI), Akash Deep, Shamar Joseph
Players retained/traded in: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (traded in from MI), Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Mohammed Shami (traded in from SRH), Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed
Purse remaining: INR 22.95 crore
Slots remaining: 6 (4 overseas)
What they need at the auction: They need replacements for Miller and Bishnoi. Apart from that, they will be keen to have an allrounder.
Mumbai Indians
Players released/traded out Arjun Tendulkar (traded 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 (traded in from LSG), Sherfane Rutherford (traded in from GT), Mayank Markande (traded in 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 remaining: 5 (1 overseas)
What they need at the auction: They seem to have all bases covered with the current squad. Perhaps they could look at a few Indian spin options to go alongside Markande and Raghu.
Punjab Kings
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 remaining: 4 (2 overseas)
What they need at the auction: Given their first XII looks quite settled and they have only 11.5 crore left, expect a quiet auction for them.
Rajasthan Royals
Players released/traded out: Sanju Samson (traded to CSK), Nitish Rana (traded to DC), Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Singh Rathore, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga
Players retained/traded in: Donovan Ferreira (traded in from DC), Ravindra Jadeja (traded in from CSK), Sam Curran (traded in 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 remaining: 9 (1 overseas)
What they need at the auction: Spin-bowling options since they have left out all of Theekshana, Hasaranga and Kartikeya and only have Jadeja on that front. They can also look towards an experienced fast bowler.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
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 remaining: 8 (2 overseas)
What they need at the auction: An overseas fast bowling back-up for Hazlewood, especially with his workload likely to be stretched if he features In both the Ashes and T20 World Cup back-to-back. They may also need a back-up for Dayal, who has not played any cricket since the IPL 2025 final.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players released/traded out: Mohammed Shami (traded 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 remaining: 10 (including 2 overseas)
What they need at the auction: Having released Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar, they need a couple of spinners. They also need an allrounder and probably an Indian fast bowler.