IPL 2026 Retention Highlights: IPL Teams Retention List Out! Ravindra Jadeja Traded To RR, Russell, Pathirana Released

Hello! A big day is coming up as it’s the final day of IPL 2026 retentions. Stay tuned for live updates and all the action as teams reveal which players they will retain and release.

Mumbai Indians have locked in all-rounder Shardul Thakur for IPL 2026, finally wrapping up the much-talked-about trade with Lucknow Super Giants. It’s a fresh chapter for Thakur, who only landed at LSG last season as an injury replacement after going unsold at the auction, and still made a statement with 13 wickets in 10 outings, highlighted by a fiery four-for.

Valued at ₹2 crore, Thakur now adds a seventh team to his IPL journey, having already turned out for CSK, DC, KKR, LSG, RPS, and PBKS. The BCCI is set to release the complete transfer sheet and retention lists on Saturday, just days before the December 15–16 auction.

Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have reportedly sealed a blockbuster trade, with Cricbuzz revealing that Ravindra Jadeja will head to Rajasthan while Sanju Samson makes the switch to Chennai. The deal isn’t a simple swap either, CSK are believed to have included Sam Curran, valued at ₹2.4 crore, alongside Jadeja, who carries a ₹18 crore price tag.

Samson’s fee matches Jadeja’s, underscoring the scale of the move. With Jadeja long regarded as India’s top all-rounder and Samson central to Rajasthan’s setup, this trade lands as one of the most dramatic shake-ups of the IPL transfer window.

Lucknow Super Giants are gearing up for a big reset ahead of the IPL 2026 retention deadline, with the franchise set to keep Mayank Yadav despite his long injury layoff and close in on Mohammed Shami through an all-cash deal of about ₹10 crore with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

At the same time, Ravi Bishnoi and David Miller are expected to be released after inconsistent runs, as LSG, under Bharat Arun’s guidance, look to reshape their bowling core before the mid-December mini-auction.

Retention Day is shaping up to unleash one of the most star-loaded IPL auctions in years, with multiple teams preparing to offload high-priced players to open up room for a fresh rebuild. As franchises rethink their cores, several marquee names, top-order hitters, strike pacers, and battle-hardened all-rounders, could return to the auction floor, setting up fierce bidding duels and potential shock reunions.

The final retention lists will define purse power, trade manoeuvres, and the entire roadmap heading into December.

• Ravindra Jadeja → Rajasthan Royals

• Sanju Samson → Chennai Super Kings

• Sam Curran → Rajasthan Royals

• Mohammed Shami → Lucknow Super Giants

• Arjun Tendulkar → Lucknow Super Giants

• Mayank Markande → Mumbai Indians

• Nitish Rana → Delhi Capitals

• Donovan Ferreira → Rajasthan Royals

RCB and PBKS, last season’s champions and runners-up, are largely sticking to their cores for IPL 2026. RCB are likely to release Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone and Rasikh Dar, while PBKS are set to let go of Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Vishnu Vinod and mid-season replacement Mitch Owen.

Both teams are keeping changes minimal as they bank on continuity ahead of the mini-auction.

Ravindra Jadeja has agreed to a pay cut to join Rajasthan Royals, reducing his IPL salary from ₹18 crore at CSK to ₹14 crore. The decision, made after discussions with MS Dhoni, allows Jadeja to return to the franchise where he began his IPL career in 2008, even as RR continue to be active in the trade window and CSK face the challenge of reshaping their lineup.

Punjab Kings are set to retain New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson despite a serious injury he suffered in April against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Ferguson, originally bought at his base price of ₹2 crore, will be replaced in the squad by fellow Kiwi all-rounder Kyle Jamieson, who was released.

PBKS are also retaining overseas players Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett and Mitchell Owen.

Mumbai Indians have traded Arjun Tendulkar to Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the IPL 2026 retention deadline. The left-arm bowling all-rounder, who debuted in 2023, will join LSG at his existing fee of ₹30 lakh.

Tendulkar, who has featured in five IPL matches and claimed three wickets, was thanked by MI for his contributions as he embarks on this new chapter.

In a simultaneous move, Mumbai Indians have brought back leg-spinner Mayank Markande from Kolkata Knight Riders at his original fee of ₹30 lakh. Markande, who began his IPL journey with MI and has taken 37 wickets in 37 matches, returns as MI and LSG finalize their squads for the upcoming season.

As reported by ESPN CricInfo, CSK is set to release Sri Lankan speedster Matheesha Pathirana, who'll be heading to the auction. CSK retained Pathirana back in 2024 for INR 13 crore, but they are going to release him this year with the intention of repurchasing him in the auctions at a cheaper price.

Pathirana had an off-season last year for CSK, where he picked up 12 wickets in 13 matches at an economy of 10.13. Will CSK be able to get him back in the auctions at the desired price? Time will tell.

KKR, who surprised everyone by buying all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping 23.75 crore in the last auction, will not retain him with the hope of buying him back at a lower price in upcoming auctions.

Other star players who will be released by KKR are Anrich Nortje- 6.5 crore, Quinton de Kock- 3.6 crore, Spencer Johnson- 2.8 crore, Rahmanullah Gurbaz- 2 crore and Moeen Ali- 2 crore. Luvnith Sisodiya and Chetan Sakariya are the other uncapped Indian players who are not in KKR's retention list.

There are strong news coming from the DC camp as well, who are reportedly going to release Jake Fraser McGurk (9 Cr) Faf Du Plessis (2 Cr) and Mohit Sharma (2.2 Cr) from their squad.

Fraser who rose to prominence in the latter stages of IPL 2024 had a forgettable IPL 2025 and his international outings for Australia weren't much impressive too.

The DC management has shown a leap of faith in T. Natarajan as they decided to retain him for his signing amount of 10.75 crore.

Natarajan played only 1 game for DC last year and his form in TNPL wasn't great either, yet DC decided to retain him at this price point, which shows the belief they have in his abilities and the lack of India pace options in upcoming auctions.

Another shocker awaits fan as dreaded all-rounder Andre Russell (12 Cr) is set to be released by KKR as per ESPN Cricinfo. Russell has been an integral part of the KKR set up since 2014. Though he has been marred with injuries in the recent years thus he's still one of the most feared hitting going around in the IPL.

Chennai Super Kings (Purse Remaining- 43.4 Cr)

Batters- Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush Mahatre, Dewald Brevis

Wicketkeepers- MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson (Trade- 18 Cr), Urvil Patel

All-Rounders- Shivam Dubey, Ramkrishna Ghosh

Bowlers- Noor Ahmed, Khalia Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh

Released- Amdre Siddharth, Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, Sheikh Rashid, Deepak Hooda, Rachin Ravindra, Vijay Shankar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Matheesh Pathirana

Rajasthan Royals (Purse Remaining- 16.05 Cr)

Batters- Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmeyer, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Luan du Pretorious, Shivam Dubey, Donavan Ferera (Trade- 1Cr)

Wicketkeepers- Dhruv Jurel

All-Rounders- Ravindra Jadeja (Trade- 14 Cr), Sam Curran (Trade- 2.4 Cr), Riyan Parag

Bowlers- Jofra Archer, Sandip Sharma, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Mphaka, Yudhvir Singh

Released- Wanindu Hasaranga, Kunal Rathod, Ashok Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Faaruqi

Kolkata Knight Riders (Purse Remaining- 64.3 Cr)

Batters- Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey

All-Rounders- Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy

Bowlers- Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik

Released- Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Lavnith Sisodiya, Spencer Johnson, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya

Delhi Capitals (Purse Remaining- 21.8 Cr)

Batters- Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana (Trade- 4.2 Cr)

Wicketkeepers- KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel

All-Rounders- Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal

Bowlers- Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, T. Natarajan

Releases- Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Manvant Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande

Lucknow Super Giants (Purse Remaining- 22.95 Cr)

Batters- Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Mathew Breetzke

Wicket-keepers- Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran

All-Rounders- Mitchell Marsh, Shehbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Arjun Tendulkar (Trade- 30 lacs)

Bowlers- Mohammed Shami (Trade- 10 Cr), Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, M Siddharth, Akash Singh

Releases- Ravi Bishnoi, Shamar Joseph, Akashdeep Singh, David Miller, Aryan Juyal, Yuvraj Choudhary, Rajvardhan Hangergekar

Gujarat Titans (Purse Remaining- 12.9 Cr)

Batters- Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharshan

All-Rounders- Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Nishant Sandhu, Glenn Philips

Wicket-keepers- Joss Butler, Kumar Kushar, Anuj Rawat

Bowlers- Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav

Releases- Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Dasun Shanaka and Mahipal Lomror

Mumbai Indian (Purse Remaining- 2.75 Cr)

Batters- Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Sherfane Rutherford (Traded- 2.6 Cr)

Wicket-keepers- Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minz

All-Rounders- Hardik Pandya Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Raj Angad Bava, Will Jacks

Bowlers- Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Ahwini Kumar, Allah Gajnafar

Releases- Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Reece Topley, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur, Karn Sharma, Krishnan Shrijith, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Purse Remaining- 16.40 Cr)

Batters- Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David

All-Rounders- Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shephard, Jacob Bethell

Wicket-keepers- Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma

Bowlers- Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma

Releases- Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee

Punjab Kings (Purse Remaining- 11.50 Cr)

Batters- Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadera, Harnoor Pannu, Shashank Singh

All-Rounders- Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Pyala Avinash, Suryansh Shegde, Mitchell Owen

Bowlers- Xavier Bartlett, Lockie Fergueson, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod

Releases- Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Purse Remaining- 25.5 Cr)

Batters- Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R. Smaran

Wicket-keepers- Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen

All-Rounders- Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse

Bowlers- Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari

Releases- Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby

That's the end of our live blog for the IPL 2026 retention for today. Thank you for sticking with us as we brought you the live updates from the Indian Premier League franchises.