IPL 2026 Auction Date, Venue Announced: Check Full List of Retained & Released Players; Finalise by Nov 15

The 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction is set to take place on December 16, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, marking the third consecutive year the league's player auction is being held overseas. The IPL first ventured abroad in 2024 with the Dubai auction, followed by a two-day mega auction in Jeddah for the 2025 season held in November 2024.

IPL 2026 Auction: Date, Venue & Players' Trading

The 2026 IPL auction is all set to take place on December 16, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, marking the third consecutive year the auction will be held overseas. The day-long event will see teams finalizing their retained and released players, shortlisting new talent from the registered player pool, and strategizing for key trades and acquisitions.

IPL Auction 2026: List of Players Go For Trading

Ahead of the auction, several notable trades have already been confirmed as per ESPN report.

• Sanju Samson has been traded from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
• Shardul Thakur moves to Mumbai Indians from Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 2 crore.
• Sherfane Rutherford joins Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans for Rs 2.6 crore.
• Arjun Tendulkar has been traded to Lucknow Super Giants from Mumbai Indians for Rs 30 lakh.

IPL 2026 Retention LIVE: Final List Retained and Released Players

In a series of notable trades on Saturday morning, Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer were released by their teams ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 retention deadline. The Kolkata Knight Riders decided to let go of these two prominent players as part of their strategy for the upcoming season.

KKR Released and Retained Players List

The Kolkata Knight Riders have retained several key players, including Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Anukul Roy. Other notable names include Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, and Ramandeep Singh. The team also kept Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, and Varun Chakaravarthy.

RCB Retention List 2026

RCB has decided to retain several key players, including Rajat Patidar, who will continue as captain. Other retained players are Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma.

Meanwhile, some players have been released from the squad. These include Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, and Mohit Rathee. The decision reflects the team's strategy for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Titans have secured Shubman Gill as captain along with Rashid Khan and Sai Sudharsan. Their squad also includes Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav and Glenn Phillips.

The Mumbai Indians have retained a strong lineup featuring AM Ghazanfar and Ashwani Kumar. Corbin Bosch and Deepak Chahar are also part of their team. Other significant players include Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Mitchell Santner remains with them alongside Naman Dhir and Raghu Sharma. Raj Angad Bawa is another key player in their squad.

Delhi Capitals have kept Axar Patel and KL Rahul in their ranks. Karun Nair is another retained player along with Abishek Porel. Tristan Stubbs continues to be part of the team alongside Sameer Rizvi and Ashutosh Sharma. Vipraj Nigam is among those who will stay with the team.

CSK Retained and Released Players

The Chennai Super Kings have retained Ruturaj Gaikwad as captain along with Ayush Mhatre. M.S. Dhoni remains a crucial part of their squad alongside Dewald Brevis. Urvil Patel is another retained player along with Shivam Dube and Jamie Overton.

Lucknow Super Giants have secured Abdul Samad along with Ayush Badoni. Aiden Markram is another key player in their lineup alongside Matthew Breetzke. Himmat Singh continues to be part of the team while Rishabh Pant serves as captain.

IPL 2026 Player Registration; Auction Pool Timeline

The player trading window for the IPL, which opened immediately following the conclusion of the 2025 season, will remain active until one week prior to the start of the 2026 auction. During this period, franchises can negotiate trades, swaps, or transfers involving players from their existing squads.

After closing for a brief interval, the trading window will reopen and continue until one month before the commencement of the IPL 2026 season, providing teams with additional opportunities to restructure their rosters ahead of the tournament.

It is important to note that any players purchased during the 2026 IPL auction will not be eligible for trades by any of the ten franchises; once acquired, these players will be tied to their respective teams for the upcoming season.

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