The IPL 2026 auction will be held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. It is being told that a total of 1355 players have registered in the auction, but only 77 slots are vacant. Crores of rupees are left in the purse of all the teams. Many veteran and young players from India and abroad will be seen in this auction, but some international stars will not be seen in the auction this time. So here is the list of those 5 international players who will not be a part of the IPL 2026 auction.

1. Glenn Maxwell

After playing 13 seasons in IPL, taking 2819 runs and 41 wickets, Australia’s legendary all-rounder Glenn Maxwell himself has confirmed that he will not be a part of the IPL 2026 auction. Although he has not taken retirement from the Indian Premier League. He was released by Punjab Kings before the 2026 auction.

2. Andre Russell

Andre Russell has retired from the Indian Premier League. He was associated with Kolkata Knight Riders team since 2014. In his entire IPL career, he took 2651 runs and 123 wickets. Russell played for Delhi Daredevils and KKR in his IPL career.

3. Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis was the first player to withdraw his name from the IPL 2026 mini auction. He told in a social media post that he will not be a part of the IPL 2026 auction, instead he has decided to play in PSL 2026. Du Plessis played for Delhi Daredevils last season.

4. Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali, who has been playing in IPL for 8 consecutive seasons, has also chosen the path like Faf du Plessis. He has also confirmed not to participate in the IPL 2026 auction. He will also be seen playing in Pakistan Super League (PSL). Moeen Ali played 73 matches in his IPL career and scored 1167 runs and took 41 wickets.

5. Ben Stokes

England team captain Ben Stokes will not be able to be a part of the auction due to a strict rule of BCCI. Actually, before the mega auction last year, BCCI had made a rule that if any player does not become a part of the mega auction, then he will be banned from the next 2 auctions. This is the reason why Stokes will not be able to be a part of the auction even if he wants to.

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Andre Russell has surprised everyone by retiring from IPL. Andre Russell, who has been playing for Kolkata Knight Riders since 2014, was not retained by KKR before the upcoming season (IPL 2026). Russell is a great all-rounder, so it was believed that there could be a tough competition in the auction among all the franchises to include him in their team. But even before that, Russell has announced his retirement from IPL.

Before the IPL 2026 auction, Kolkata Knight Riders had retained only 12 players. The most surprising thing was that the name of Andre Russell, who was known as the poster boy of KKR, was not there in it. Andre Russell announced his retirement from IPL and shared a video, which featured some of his memorable moments spent in KKR. Along with this it was told that he will be seen in a new role in KKR in IPL 2026.

Andre Russell retired from IPL

Andre Russell wrote, “Retiring from IPL, but not giving up the swag. Had a great IPL career, memories of 12 seasons, and a lot of love from the KKR family. I will keep hitting sixes and taking wickets in other cricket leagues of the world.”

Russell further wrote, “And what’s the best thing? That I am not leaving home. You will see me in a new role, in the support staff of KKR, as the power coach of 2026. New chapter, new energy. Always for the Knights.”

Andre Russell’s IPL career

Andre Russell was known as the poster boy of KKR, so many people would be surprised to know that Russell started his IPL career by playing for Delhi Capitals. He played for Delhi in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, he joined KKR and since then has become a special member of this team.

• Andre Russell for DC – 7 matches, 58 runs and 1 wicket
• Andre Russell for KKR – 133 matches, 2593 runs and 122 wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

• How many players did KKR retain?- 12 (2 foreigners)
• Total expenditure on retained players- Rs 60.70 crore
• Available balance of KKR in IPL 2026 auction- Rs 64.30 crore

KKR’s retained players: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakraborty.

The IPL 2026 auction is going to be held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. From Andre Russell to Liam Livingstone, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller can come in the auction this time. Only 77 slots are left, but the auction pool will be full of talent from new and veteran players. Last year, all the records of bidding on players were broken, Rishabh Pant was bought by LSG for Rs 27 crores. Know who is the player this time who is capable of getting a bid of Rs 30 crore.

Will the highest bid be placed on Andre Russell?

Considering the stature of Andre Russell as a player, Kolkata Knight Riders’ release of Russell is quite a surprising decision. He has experience of 574 T20 matches, is just 551 runs away from touching the 10,000 run mark and has also taken 497 wickets in T20 cricket. Russell has scored 2651 runs in 140 IPL matches and has also taken 123 wickets in bowling. In IPL 2025, Russell scored 167 runs and took 8 wickets in 13 matches for KKR.

Russell has been playing the role of match finisher for KKR in the last few seasons. On most of the occasions, he has come to bat at sixth or lower order, hence he has not scored much runs in the last two seasons, but his strike rate has been 185 and 164 respectively.

Andre Russell is a total package

Apart from KKR, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals also need a hard-hitting all-rounder who can bowl 3-4 overs regularly. CSK has Shivam Dubey, but Dubey has not been very active in bowling. Russell can give wickets to the team from time to time, can play the role of finisher and hit big sixes, is also counted among the good fielders and has a lot of experience. If seen, Russell is a total package and a team with a big purse like CSK would definitely want to buy him. KKR can also buy them back.

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The IPL 2026 auction is going to be smoke-filled this time. From Andre Russell to Glenn Maxwell, legends who have hit big sixes can come in the auction this time. A total of 77 slots will be vacant in the auction, teams are left with a total of Rs 237.55 crore. Obviously, a lot of money is going to be showered on the players in the auction. In the mega auction, bids of more than Rs 20 crore were made on 3 players including Rishabh Pant. This time also some such players may come in the auction, regarding whom a bidding war may start.

1. Andre Russell

Andre Russell has taken 2651 runs and 123 wickets in his historic career. Russell, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders for 12 seasons, has been released this time by the KKR franchise. Russell is a good fielder, he gives wickets to the team from time to time and the whole world is aware of his ability to hit big hits. The arrival of a veteran like Russell in the auction means a bidding war seems almost certain.

2. Cameron Green

There is speculation about Australian all-rounder Cameron Green that this time there may be a competition among the teams to buy him. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra predicted that this time there may be a lot of demand for Green in the auction. Green is also in good form, coming off a century against South Africa and his strike rate in T20 Internationals is more than 160. Can bowl at one wicket, can come in the middle order or lower middle order and can also play the role of finisher. Because of this specialty, very high bids can be made on Green. With the release of Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer and Moeen Ali, KKR is in dire need of an all-rounder and has more than Rs 64 crore left.

3. David Miller

The auction sometimes progresses in an unexpected manner. If we talk about the last time, the bid on Venkatesh Iyer had gone up to Rs 23.75 crore in no time. It is also possible to place a very high bid on a young fast bowler like Mathisha Pathirana. But Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders have the most money left, the addition of a finisher like David Miller to their squad will strengthen their squad. Especially KKR now has no finisher left. Therefore, Kolkata team can turn to Miller and CSK’s participation in the bidding war will not be surprising.

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IPL 2026 Auction: Just before the mini auction of IPL 2026, a big decision of Kolkata Knight Riders has come to light. The franchise has released West Indies’ explosive all-rounder Andre Russell. The same Russell whom KKR had included in 2014 and since then he had become the identity of the team. After wearing the KKR jersey for 11 years, now Russell is going to be a part of the auction for the first time.

Considering his explosive hitting, match finishing and wicket-taking ability, many teams seem ready to make big bids on him. In such a situation, let us see those 3 teams who may intend to empty their entire purse on Russell in the IPL 2026 auction.

Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals have been struggling to build a balanced team in the last few seasons, especially the lack of foreign all-rounders has always been bothering them. Russell can not only fill this void but can completely change the game of the team.

The small size of Delhi grounds is perfect for Russell’s hitting style. He has the power to change the course of the match in just a few overs. In such a situation, DC can bid aggressively on them in the auction.

Chennai Super Kings

CSK has surprised everyone by releasing many big names before the mini auction. With the departure of all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, a big void has been created in both the middle order and bowling of the team. Chennai always needs a player who can finish the match under pressure and can also bowl 2-3 overs if needed. Russell fits perfectly for this role. The pair of Dhoni and Russell can create a stir on the field, and that is why CSK can afford to bid heavily on them.

punjab kings

By releasing Glenn Maxwell, Punjab Kings made it clear that they are looking for a new foreign all-rounder. Russell’s T20 experience and his “game-changer” tag will definitely attract Punjab. PBKS team often suffers from lack of match finisher and Russell’s presence can give them the strength that they have been looking for for years.

The auction for the Indian Premier League 2026 will take place on 16 December. Andre Russell’s name will also be among the players on whom bidding will be done on this day. Russell, who has been the poster boy of Kolkata Knight Riders for many years, has been released by KKR. This was the most surprising thing in the retention of all the teams. Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif believes that the reason behind this is the head coach of KKR, who wants to form his new team.

While talking about retention on YouTube channel, Mohammad Kaif alleged that Abhishek Nair was the direct reason for KKR releasing Andre Russell. Let us tell you that the Kolkata team has also made many changes in its coaching department before IPL 2026. Abhishek was elected head coach and Shane Watson was made assistant coach. Tim Saudi has been appointed bowling coach.

what did mohammed kaif say

Kaif said, “It is not right to release Russell. You bought him for Rs 12 crore and it was not a big amount for a player like him. Only one player like him comes in this era. Yes, he was not in form, but later he also scored runs. But as coaches change, they bring some changes. I think it was a big decision.”

Kaif further said, “You can say that Russell was not at his peak yet, but I think this is a format, especially in IPL, where experienced players perform well and there are many examples of this. I think the direct answer to his release is Abhishek Nair. He wants to build his own team now. But it was a surprising decision.”

Andre Russell’s IPL career

Many people may think that Andre Russell has been playing for KKR since the beginning in IPL. Actually he had become a poster boy of the KKR team, although it was not so. He started his IPL career by playing in Delhi Capitals. He was a part of Delhi in 2012 and 2013, in 2014 KKR included him in their team and then he played for the same team till 2025.

Andre Russell has played a total of 140 matches in IPL, in which he has scored 2651 runs. Russell has scored 12 half-centuries in IPL. Russell has taken a total of 123 wickets in IPL. It will be interesting to see which team Andre Russell joins in the upcoming IPL season, or whether he will return to KKR. Let us tell you that KKR has the biggest purse in the IPL auction.

The bugle for the 19th season of the Indian Premier League i.e. IPL 2026 has been sounded. The auction for the upcoming season of IPL will take place next month. However, this time a mini auction will be organized. This time too many superstar players are included in the auction. In such a situation, the biggest question is who will be sold the most expensive in the auction?

Let us tell you that the mini auction for IPL 2026 will be organized on December 16 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. BCCI has said in the press release that all the 10 teams have retained a total of 173 players, which includes 49 foreign players and some traded players. 10 teams have 77 slots left for the IPL 2026 mini auction. The total purse of all the franchises is Rs 237.55 crore.

This time many superstar players included in the auction

For your information, let us tell you that many superstar players are included in the IPL 2026 auction. It includes names like Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mathisha Pathirana, Faf du Plessis and Liam Livingstone. Let us tell you that this time all the 10 teams together have released a total of 70 players. Whereas only a maximum of 77 players can be sold in the mini auction.

Who will sell the most expensive? Will Rishabh Pant’s record be broken?

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant is the most expensive player in the history of IPL. Lucknow bought him last year for Rs 27 crore. Venkatesh Iyer, who was sold for around Rs 24 crore, is also a part of the auction this year. Star all-rounder Andre Russell has also gone to the auction.

Let us tell you that this time a mini auction is to be organized. In such a situation, it is difficult to break Rishabh Pant’s record of being sold for Rs 27 crores. There are three players involved in the race to be the most expensive seller. This includes Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer and Cameron Green. Teams can pay any amount to buy these players.

All 10 teams released these 70 players

Chennai Super Kings- Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Sheikh Rashid, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Mathisha Pathirana.

Kolkata Knight Riders- Andre Russell, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje, Lavnith Sisodia, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson

Sunrisers Hyderabad- Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Viaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Tawde, Simarjeet Singh and Sachin Baby

Royal Challengers Bangalore- Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi and Mohit Rathi

Punjab Kings- Glenn Maxwell, Josh English, Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen and Praveen Dubey

Mumbai Indians- Satyanarayana Raju, Reece Topley, KL Srijit, Karn Sharma, Bevan Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams and Vignesh Puthur.

Gujarat Titans- Mahipal Lomror, Karim Jannat, Dasun Shanaka, Gerald Coetzee, and Kulwant Khejroliya.

Rajasthan Royals- Wanindu Hasaranga, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Akash Madhwal, Mahesh Teekshana, Kumar Karthikeya Singh, Ashok Sharma and Kunal Rathod.

Lucknow Super Giants- Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Yuvraj Choudhary, Rajvardhan Hungergekar, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi and Shamar Joseph.

Delhi Capitals– Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sediqullah Atal, Manwant Kumar, Mohit Sharma and Darshan Nalkande.

Before IPL 2026, the retention list of all the teams has been revealed. All the teams have retained 15 or more players, but in the list of players to be released, there are some names which have shocked the entire IPL world. Among these, one name is also that of Andre Russell (Andre Russell Released), who has been released by KKR after 11 years. RCB and Delhi Capitals have shown the exit door to some famous players.

5 big players to be released

Andre Russell- The biggest name among the players to be released is Andre Russell, who was playing for KKR since 2014. With the release of Russell, Rs 12 crore has been added to KKR’s purse, because last season KKR had retained Russell for Rs 12 crore. Apart from scoring 2651 runs in 140 matches for KKR, Russell also took 123 wickets.

Liam Livingstone- Liam Livingstone was bought by RCB in the auction last year with a bid of Rs 8.75 crore. Last season, he could score only 112 runs in 10 matches for RCB and took only 2 wickets in bowling. Somehow this poor performance and the amount of Rs 8.75 crores became the reason for his release.

Faf du Plessis- Faf du Plessis was bought by Delhi Capitals in the mega auction for Rs 2 crore. In the 2025 season, he could score only 202 runs in 9 matches for Delhi. Du Plessis, who is 41 years old, is finding it difficult to find a buyer for the next season due to his increasing age. Even in the mega auction, Delhi had bought him at the base price only.

Glenn Maxwell- The last 2 IPL seasons have been very bad for Glenn Maxwell. He has scored only 100 runs in 17 matches played in the last two seasons. Whereas in IPL 2025, he could score only 48 runs in 7 matches for Punjab Kings. Maxwell’s release has added Rs 4.2 crore to Punjab’s purse.

David Miller- David Miller’s IPL form has also not been very good. In the mega auction, he was bought by Lucknow Super Giants with a bid of Rs 7.5 crore. But in the 11 matches played in the entire season, only 153 runs came from his bat.

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From MI-CSK to Delhi-Punjab, see the retention list of all teams in one click

All ten teams have released their retention list for IPL 2026. Chennai Super Kings have shown the exit door to 9 players and Rajasthan Royals to a total of 8 players. Mathisha Pathirana, Liam Livingstone, Andre Russell and Glenn Maxwell are some of the big names who have been released before the auction. Here you can see the retention list of all the teams at a glance.

Retention list of all teams for IPL 2026:

RCB’s retention list: Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethel, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salaam, Abhinandan Singh and Suyyash Sharma.

Retention list of MI: Hardik Pandya (captain), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Naman Dheer, Raj Angad Bawa, Ashwini Kumar, Robin Minz, Raghu Sharma, Ryan Rickleton, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacques, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Allah Ghazanfar.

Retention List of LSG: Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Matthew Bretzke, Himmat Singh, Rishabh Pant (captain), Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Digvesh Rathi, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh Do

CSK Retention List: MS Dhoni, Rituraj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (trade), Shivam Dubey, Dewald Brewis, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmed, Khalil Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Chaudhary, Gurjapaneet Singh.

SRH retention list: Pat Cummins (captain), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R Smrana, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari.

Retention List of Gujarat: Shubman Gill (captain), Sai Sudarshan, 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.

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

Retention List of Delhi: Axar Patel (captain), KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripura Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera.

KKR retention list: Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Varun Chakraborty, Lavnith Sisodia, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ramandeep Singh, Ankul Roy, Rovman Powell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson

Retention List of Rajasthan: Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Varun Chakraborty, Lavnith Sisodia, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ramandeep Singh, Ankul Roy, Rovman Powell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Spencer Johnson

Before the auction for IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders have retained 12 players including Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane. The most surprising thing in KKR’s retention list is that they have also released their poster boy Andre Russell. Russell has been playing for this team since 2014. KKR has released a total of 9 players.

List of retained players of KKR

• Rinku Singh
• Angrish Raghuvanshi
• Ajinkya Rahane
• Manish Pandey
• rovman powell
• Sunil Narine
• Ramandeep Singh
• Anukul Roy
• Varun Chakraborty
• Harshit Rana
• Vaibhav Arora
• Umran Malik

KKR released these players

• Lavneeth Sisodia
• quinton dekock
• Rehmanullah Gurbaz
• Venkatesh Iyer
• andre russell
• Moeen Ali
• spencer johnson
• Enrique Norkhia
• Chetan Sakariya

UNPRECEDENTED!!! pic.twitter.com/QXGY3qXUqz

— KnightRidersXtra (@KKR_Xtra) November 15, 2025

How much purse does KKR have in IPL 2026 auction?

Kolkata Knight Riders has released many of its expensive players, the name of Venkatesh Iyer is also included in it. Venkatesh was bought by KKR in the last auction for Rs 23.75 crore. The other expensive player to be released is Russell, who was retained by KKR for Rs 12 crore before the last edition.

KKR has also released Quinton de Kock, who was priced at Rs 3.6 crore. This is also a surprising decision, because the team has also released the second wicket keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz along with him. Now KKR will be looking for a good wicket keeper in the auction.

Kolkata Knight Riders are left with a purse of Rs 64.3 crore in the IPL 2026 auction. There are slots left for 13 players, which means KKR can buy a maximum of 13 players in the auction. The team can buy maximum 6 foreign players.

When will IPL 2026 auction take place?

The auction for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League will be held in December, it will be a mini auction which is likely to last for 1 day. IPL auction is likely to take place on December 15. Its venue is under consideration, it can also happen outside India in UAE. However, the venue has not been decided yet.