The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 retention deadline was set on November 15. Retaining the majority of their star players was the choice of some teams, while others went for releasing the major players to reconstruct after the disappointing performances in IPL 2025.
The IPL 2026 mini-auction will be held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on December 16. It is going to be quite exciting to watch the teams trying their luck in the long-awaited auction that is foreign for the third consecutive year.
Let’s see which three IPL teams suffered the most from the player’s unavailability in 2026 retention:
- DELHI Capitals
Delhi Capitals began their IPL 2025 season well, winning all of their first four matches, but their performance dropped towards the end of the season, so they finished in fifth place with the record of seven wins and six losses. Ahead of the auction, DC parted ways with their experienced top-order batter, Faf du Plessis. They also chose to part with fellow opener Jake Fraser-McGurk, who underperformed last season but is very talented.
DC’s bowling attack is made up of Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, T Natarajan, and Mukesh Kumar. It seems like there is no proper balancing among them, because Starc is very much superior to the others and there is nobody who can substitute or back him up. T Natarajan, who is injured, has been retained for INR 10.75 crore despite having played only one match in IPL 2025.
- Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are going to participate in the mini-auction with the biggest budget among all 10 teams. They will have a staggering INR 64.3 crore to spend at the auction. The three-time champions have kept only 12 players and will start looking for a new squad for the next two years.
There is a possibility that the number of star players ready to be picked for the new season is limited, as the majority of them had been secured by other teams. Additionally, there are some analysts who have raised doubts regarding the decision to let go of Andre Russell.
The West Indies player rendered his services to KKR from year 2014 to 2025. The cost of his contract was just INR 12 crore, and the analysts consider it as a small amount for a match-winner of his qualities.
- Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) very cleverly trapped Sanju Samson, but they were forced to part ways with Ravindra Jadeja, who actually was the one to save “tigers” many times during the last few seasons. The left-arm spinner’s abilities are specially suited to the Chepauk pitches. He was also the one who helped MS Dhoni by taking on the finisher’s role in the last few years.
The five-time champions have also let go of the devastating duo of openers; Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. It was an unexpected step to take because at least one of them could have been kept as a backup. On the other hand, parting with Matheesha Pathirana was also a questionable decision. The young Lankan pacer had an off-IPL-2025 but at just 22, he could have come back strong in IPL-2026.
CSK is a team that always stands by its players, but this was not true for the right-arm fast bowler, who is a real asset at the death.
