IPL 2026 Retentions: KKR, CSK To Engage In Bidding War In Mini-Auction With Big Purse In Hand
KKR will be looking to rebuild their squad from scratch, while CSK are likely to revamp their bowling attack and may attempt to buy back Matheesha Pathirana or target Ben Stokes to restore balance, provided he is available after the Ashes.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are expected to trigger intense bidding wars with the best purses among the 10 teams at next month’s mini IPL auction, to be held in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 16, 2025.
KKR enter the auction with a purse of Rs 63.4 crore after releasing major non-performing assets in Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore) and Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore), while CSK, despite trading Sanju Samson, have freed up Rs 40 crore by letting go of a host of players.
KKR will be looking to rebuild their squad from scratch, while CSK are likely to revamp their bowling attack and may attempt to buy back Matheesha Pathirana or target Ben Stokes to restore balance, provided he is available after the Ashes.
KKR have also released Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali and Anrich Nortje, while retaining a core group of players, which includes a blend of exciting young talent and experienced campaigners such as Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
KKR have 13 slots available, including six overseas slots.
Earlier, charismatic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and keeper-batter Samson have been traded to Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings respectively.
With the deadline for player retention ending later on Sunday, CSK stalwart Jadeja has switched base to Rajasthan Royals albeit at a much reduced fee, while Samson, who has led RR for four seasons, will be donning the yellow CSK jersey in IPL 2026.
An IPL media advisory said on Saturday that Jadeja's IPL fee had been revised from Rs 18 crore to Rs 14 crore, while Samson will play for CSK at his existing league fee of Rs 18 crore.
One of the most experienced players in the IPL, Samson has played 177 matches in the league with CSK being only his third franchise. He represented RR in all but two seasons — 2016 and 2017 — since making his IPL debut in 2013.
England all-rounder Sam Curran will move from CSK to RR at his existing league fee of Rs 2.4 crore following a successful trade.
Pace-bowling stalwart Mohammed Shami will don the Lucknow Super Giants jersey after a trade from Sunrisers Hyderabad. He will move to the new franchise at his existing fee of Rs 10 crore.
Though the veteran bowler missed the 2024 season due to injury, he had a successful campaign in Gujarat Titans' title-winning campaign in 2023 taking 20 wickets.
Sachin Tendulkar's son Arjun Tendulkar will also don LSG colours following a transfer from Mumbai Indians at his existing fee of Rs 30 lakh, while all-rounder Nitish Rana will represent Delhi Capitals following a trade from Rajasthan Royals at his existing fee of Rs 4.2 crore.
South African keeper-batter Donovan Ferreira will return to his first franchise, Rajasthan Royals, following a trade from Delhi Capitals at a revised fee of Rs 1 crore.
Delhi Capitals have released six players, the most notable among them being Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk. The remaining released players are Mohit Sharma, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar and Darshan Nalkande.
The players retained by DC from their last season's fifth-place finish include Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc and Tristan Stubbs among others. Delhi Capitals have also roped in Nitish Rana in a trade for Donovan Ferreira, who moved to RR.
Gujarat Titans have released five players in Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gerald Coetzee, Dasun Shanaka and Mahipal Lomror, while trading Sherfane Rutherford to Mumbai Indians.
New Zealand's Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, R Ashwin, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran and Matheesha Pathrirana are some of the big names to be released by CSK.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have released eight players, the most prominent among them are Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar.
Punjab Kings have released five players -- Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen and Praveen Dubey.
Mumbai Indians, menawhile, have released nine -- Reece Topley, Karn Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahmanand Vignesh Puthur -- being the notable.
The three big names Lucknow Super Giants have released are Akashdeep, Ravi Bishnoi and and David Miller.
All the released players will now go into the mini-auction.
The purse remaining with the teams ahead of the mini-auction are Chennai Super Kings (Rs 43.40 crore), Mumbai Indians (Rs 2.75 crore), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Rs 16.40 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 64.30 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Rs 25.50 crore), Gujarat Titans (Rs 12.90 crore), Rajasthan Royals (Rs 16.05 crore), Delhi Capitals (Rs 21.80 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (Rs 22.95 crore), Punjab Kings (Rs 11.50 crore).
