New Delhi: The countdown to the IPL 2026 mini auction has ended, with the first major event of the league’s 19th season set to unfold on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. All ten franchises will enter the auction room with one goal: to plug the remaining gaps in their squads and build a title-contending team.
While close to 350 players are part of the auction pool, only 77 cricketers will find a place in IPL 2026. However, a significant group of players will be spared the tension of the auction hammer altogether. These are the 173 cricketers already retained by franchises, whose places in their respective squads are secured well before the auction.
The official retention list was released on November 15, giving a clear picture of each team’s core strength, remaining purse, and auction strategy.
Biggest and Smallest Worries at the Auction
Among all teams, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) face the biggest task. They have the largest purse of ₹64.30 crore, but also need to buy the maximum number of players (13), including six overseas slots.
At the other end of the spectrum are Mumbai Indians (MI), who have just ₹2.75 crore remaining. Although MI need only five players, including one overseas cricketer, their limited budget may force them to rely on young, uncapped talent.
Team-wise Remaining Purse and Slots
- Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): ₹64.30 crore | 13 players (6 overseas)
- Chennai Super Kings (CSK): ₹43.40 crore | 9 players (4 overseas)
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): ₹25.50 crore | 10 players
- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): ₹22.95 crore | 6 players
- Delhi Capitals (DC): ₹21.80 crore | 8 players
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB): ₹16.40 crore | 8 players
- Rajasthan Royals (RR): ₹16.05 crore | 9 players
- Gujarat Titans (GT): ₹12.90 crore | 5 players
- Punjab Kings (PBKS): ₹11.50 crore | 4 players
- Mumbai Indians (MI): ₹2.75 crore | 5 players (1 overseas)
Players Who Will Not Go Under the Hammer
Lucknow Super Giants
Rishabh Pant (captain), Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Mohammed Shami (trade), Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar (trade), Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke
Punjab Kings
Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Harnoor Pannu, Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, P. Avinash
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (captain), Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh
Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja (trade), Sam Curran (trade), Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Donovan Ferreira, Devon Ferreira (trade), Nandre Burger, Kwena Mphaka, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh, Lhuan-dre Pretorius
Delhi Capitals
KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana (trade), Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Ajay Mandal, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay
Mumbai Indians
Hardik Pandya (captain), Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Tilak Varma, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur (trade), Mayank Markande (trade), Sherfane Rutherford (trade), Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Robin Minz, Allah Ghazanfar
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Pat Cummins (captain), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari, Aniket Verma, B. Smaran, Harsh Dubey
Gujarat Titans
Shubman Gill (captain), Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Glenn Phillips, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar
Kolkata Knight Riders
Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy
Chennai Super Kings
Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson (trade), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Shreyas Gopal
Auction Day Awaits
With core squads already locked in, franchises now face the crucial task of making smart additions within tight budgets. As the auction hammer rises in Abu Dhabi, strategy—not just spending power—will decide who gains the edge for IPL 2026.
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