NEW DELHI: Franchises sprang major surprises in the IPL 2026 retention list, with several big names released ahead of the mini auction. In one of the most high-profile cuts in IPL history, KKR decided to part ways with star all-rounder Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore). The three-time champions also released Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore), boosting their purse to a massive Rs 64.3 crore - the highest heading into the auction scheduled for December 16 in Abu Dhabi.

Here's a look at how the squads stack up ahead of the IPL 2026 mini auction:

Chennai Super Kings

Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis,

Traded In: Sanju Samson (from RR)

Traded Out: Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran (to RR)

Released: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Matheesha Pathirana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth

Delhi Capitals

Retained: Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal , Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmanta Chameera.

Released: Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande

Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained: Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik.

Traded Out: Mayank Markande (to MI)

Released: Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Spencer Johnson, Moeen Ali, Rahmanulllah Gurbaz, Andre Russell, Luvnith Sisodia, Chetan Sakariya

Mumbai Indians

Retained: AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks

Traded In: Shardul Thakur (from LSG), Sherfane Rutherford (from GT), Mayank Markande (from KKR)

Released: Satyanarayana Raju, Reece Topley, KL Shrijith, Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur

Rajasthan Royals

Retained: Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Jofra Archer, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Nandre Burger

Traded In: Ravindra Jadeja (from CSK), Sam Curran (from CSK), Donovan Ferreira (from DC).

Released: Wanindu Hasaranga, Mahessh Theekshana, Kunal Singh Rathore, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya

Lucknow Super Giants

Retained: Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Rishabh Pant (c), Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh.

Traded In: Mohammed Shami (from Sunrisers Hyderabad), Arjun Tendulkar (from Mumbai Indians)

Traded Out: Shardul Thakur (to Mumbai Indians)

Released: Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi, Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Shamar Joseph

Gujarat Titans:

Retained: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore, and Jayant Yadav.

Traded Out: Sherfane Rutherford (to Mumbai Indians).

Released: Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, and Kulwant Khejroliya.

Punjab Kings

Retained: Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyala Avinash, Harnoor Pannu, Suryansh Shedge, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Lockie Ferguson, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod

Released: Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Praveen Dubey, Kuldeep Sen

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Retained: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thusara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Rasikh Dar

Released: Mayank Agarwal, Swastik Chhikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Retained: Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R. Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari.

Released: Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby

Traded Out: Mohammed Shami (to LSG)