One of the most interesting facets, especially at this moment, about the Indian Premier League is the IPL player retention. The window for the same, i.e., the TATA IPL 2026 season recently closed on November 15, 2025. So what happened there?
Fundamentally speaking, all 10 teams announced the players they are keeping before the auction. In total, 173 players have been retained, including 49 from overseas.
There will be 77 spots available at the auction, and all teams together have ₹237.55 crore left to spend. Each team can have up to 25 players. Punjab Kings have kept the most players (21), while Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans have kept 20 each.
The above told, what’s important is to note that IPL Player Auction will be held on December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. That is, very much, the melting pot of cricket, also, besides notable geographies such as India.
But here’s what is making the right buzz. The much loved Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the auction with the highest purse — ₹64.3 crore — and can fill up to 13 slots, including six overseas spots. Chennai Super Kings have the second-biggest purse of ₹43.4 crore and can fill nine slots.
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Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
16 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹81.60 | Cap remaining: ₹43.40
Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, *Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, *Nathan Ellis, *Noor Ahmad, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sanju Samson (T), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, *Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel.
Delhi Capitals (DC)
17 players retained | 3 overseas | Total spent: ₹103.20 | Cap remaining: ₹21.80
Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, *Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, *Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana (T), Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, *Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam.
Gujarat Titans (GT)
20 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹112.10 | Cap remaining: ₹12.90
Anuj Rawat, *Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, *Jos Buttler, *Kagiso Rabada, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammad Siraj, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R. Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, *Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
12 players retained | 2 overseas | Total spent: ₹60.70 | Cap remaining: ₹64.30
Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, *Rovman Powell, *Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Mumbai Indians (MI)
20 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹122.25 | Cap remaining: ₹2.75
*Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, *Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande (T), *Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, *Ryan Rickelton, Shardul Thakur (T), *Sherfane Rutherford (T), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, *Trent Boult, *Will Jacks
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
19 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹102.05 | Cap remaining: ₹22.95
Abdul Samad, *Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (T), Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, *Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Md Shami (T), *Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, *Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
21 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹113.50 | Cap remaining: ₹11.50
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
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
16 players retained | 7 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.95 | Cap remaining: ₹16.05
Dhruv Jurel, *Donovan Ferreira (T), *Jofra Archer, *Kwena Maphaka, *Lhuan-Dre Pretorious, *Nandre Burger, Ravindra Jadeja (T), Riyan Parag, *Sam Curran (T), Sandeep Sharma, *Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Charak
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
17 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹108.60 | Cap remaining: ₹16.40
Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, *Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, *Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, *Nuwan Thushara, *Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, *Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, *Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
15 players retained | 6 overseas | Total spent: ₹99.50 | Cap remaining: ₹25.50
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, Smaran Ravichandaran, *Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari
(note- players and team date source is IPL T20 official website)
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