The stage is set for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2026 mini-auction, scheduled for December 16. With a pool of 350 players ready, the ten franchises will battle it out to fill 77 available slots, including 31 for foreign players, with their remaining salary purses.
All teams have finalized their lists of retained players, making some tough decisions to shape their squads for the upcoming season. Last year’s runners-up, Punjab Kings, lead with 21 retentions, while heavyweights like Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans have kept 20 players each. Here’s a complete breakdown of each team’s strategy and financial position heading into the bidding war.
IPL 2026 Auction Date and Key Details
- Auction Date: December 16.
- Total Player Pool: 350 players.
- Total Slots to Fill: 77 (including 31 overseas slots).
- Squad Size Rules: Minimum 18 players, maximum 25 players per team.
IPL 2026 Retained Players List and Team Purse
Teams are entering the auction with vastly different financial strengths. The defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), have the biggest war chest, while others like Mumbai Indians have very little room to maneuver.
1. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Purse Left: ₹64.30 Crore
Retained Players (12): Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane, Harshit Rana, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Umran Malik, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy.
Slots Available: 13 (8 Overseas).
2. Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Purse Left: ₹43.40 Crore
Retained Players (16): MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brewis, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj.
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Slots Available: 9 (4 Overseas).
3. SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Purse Left: ₹25.50 Crore
Retained Players (15): Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Zeeshan Ansari, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, R Smaran.
Slots Available: 10 (2 Overseas).
4. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Purse Left: ₹22.95 Crore
Retained Players (19): Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Arshin Kulkarni, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Prince Yadav.
Slots Available: 6 (4 Overseas).
5. Delhi Capitals (DC)
Purse Left: ₹21.80 Crore
Retained Players (17): KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Abishek Porel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, T Natarajan, Ashutosh Sharma, Ajay Mandal, Sameer Rizvi, Vipraj Nigam, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari.
Slots Available: 8 (5 Overseas).
6. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Purse Left: ₹16.40 Crore
Retained Players (17): Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Dar, Swapnil Singh.
Slots Available: 8 (2 Overseas).
7. Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Purse Left: ₹16.05 Crore
Retained Players (16): Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Donovan Ferreira, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh.
Slots Available: 9 (1 Overseas).
8. Gujarat Titans (GT)
Purse Left: ₹12.90 Crore
Retained Players (20): Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, B Sai Sudharsan, Mohammed Siraj, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Prasidh Krishna, M Shahrukh Khan, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, R Sai Kishore.
Slots Available: 5 (4 Overseas).
9. Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Purse Left: ₹11.50 Crore
Retained Players (21): Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Xavier Bartlett, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Harnoor Pannu, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge.
Slots Available: 4 (2 Overseas).
10. Mumbai Indians (MI)
Purse Left: ₹2.75 Crore
Retained Players (20): Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Tilak Varma, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Sherfane Rutherford, Mayank Markande, Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Corbin Bosch, Raghu Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, AM Ghazanfar.
Slots Available: 5 (1 Overseas).
FAQs
Q: When is the IPL 2026 auction?
A: The IPL 2026 mini-auction is scheduled for December 16.
Q: Which team has the highest purse for the IPL 2026 auction?
A: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have the largest remaining purse of ₹64.30 Crore.
Q: How many players are in the auction pool for IPL 2026?
A: A total of 350 players are set to go under the hammer in the auction pool.
Q: Which team retained the most players?
A: Punjab Kings (PBKS) retained the most players, with 21 in their squad.
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