0The auction for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) will be held in Abu Dhabi on 16 December. All the teams have released their retention lists, franchises will bid for players to fill the remaining slots. All the teams have released some such players, who can get huge amount in the upcoming auction. But there are also 5 players whose IPL career can be considered over. It is difficult for any team to bet on him.

1- Faf du Plessis

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis is one of the few players who played in the IPL despite being above 40 years of age. He is now 41 years old, was playing for Delhi Capitals last season. Faf has also captained RCB.

Du Plessis started his IPL career in 2012 playing for Chennai Super Kings. He stayed in CSK till 2021, meanwhile he also played for Rising Pune Super Giants in 2016 and 2017. Now he is in the last phase of his career, he has been released by Delhi Capitals before the IPL 2026 auction. Considering his age, it can be assumed that hardly any team will bid on him.

Talking about Faf’s IPL career, he played a total of 154 matches for 4 teams, in which he scored 4773 runs at a strike rate of 135.78. He has scored 39 half-centuries in IPL.

2- Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey has been released by Kolkata Knight Riders. He became a part of this team in 2024, Pandey has been playing since the first edition of IPL. He has played for 7 teams so far, but looking at his condition in the last 2 seasons, it seems difficult for any team to bet on him.

Manish Pandey played only 3 matches in IPL 2025, in which he scored 92 runs. In 2024, he played only 1 match. In that he scored 42 runs. Manish has played 174 matches in IPL, in which he has scored 3942 runs. This includes 22 half-centuries and 1 century.

3- Karan Sharma

Mumbai Indians retained 17 players, included 3 through trade. MI released 8 players, in which the name of Karn Sharma is also included. Karna played only 6 matches in the last edition, while his team reached Qualifier-2. Now MI has released him, but he is finding it very difficult to get any other team in the auction.

Karn Sharma is 38 years old, he has been playing IPL since 2009. Karna, who debuted for RCB, has so far played for 4 teams, in which he has taken 83 wickets.

4- Mohit Sharma

Bowler Mohit Sharma’s name will also be in the IPL 2026 auction, but perhaps some team will bid on him. Mohit has been released by Delhi Capitals. Mohit Sharma, who has been playing IPL since 2013, has played a total of 120 matches for 4 teams (CSK, PBKS, GT and DC), in which he has 134 wickets in his name.

In the last edition, Mohit played 8 matches for Delhi, in which he took only 2 wickets but his economy was 10.28. In such a situation, it is difficult for them to get a new team in the IPL 2026 auction.

5- Moeen Ali

England cricketer Moeen Ali was in Kolkata Knight Riders last year, he was bought by KKR for his base price of Rs 2 crore. Although he could not do anything special, he got to play only 6 matches. He scored only 5 runs in 2 innings. He bowled in 5 matches, in which he took 6 wickets.

Moeen has been playing in IPL since 2018, he has played for a total of 3 teams (RCB, CSK and KKR). He played a total of 73 matches in IPL, in which he scored 1167 runs. He has also scored 6 half-centuries.

Rajasthan Royals have made a big announcement before the auction for IPL 2026. The team has appointed Kumar Sangakkara as its new head coach. Before the auction, the franchise also made the biggest deal in IPL history, they included Ravindra Jadeja from CSK in their squad through trade in place of captain Sanju Samson.

There was already news about former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara that he could be made the new head coach of Rajasthan Royals, which has now been approved by Rajasthan. In the previous edition, the head coach of the team was Rahul Dravid, who had resigned from his post a few days ago. Earlier, Sangakkara was holding the post of Director of Cricket in this franchise.

Rajasthan Royals 2026 Retention List

• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• Shimron Hetmyer
• Vaibhav Suryavanshi
• Shubham Dubey
• luan-dre pretorius
• Dhruv Jurel
• Riyan Parag
• jofra archer
• Tushar Deshpandey
• Sandeep Sharma
• Yudhveer Singh
• quena mafaka
• Nandre Burger

Rajasthan Royals Trade

• Ravindra Jadeja (Included)
• Sam Curran (inducted)
• Donovan Ferreira (inducted)
• Sanju Samson (out)
• Nitish Rana (out)

9 layers slots vacant in Rajasthan Royals team

Rajasthan Royals have retained 13 players and included 3 players in their squad through trade. All three players coming through trade are all-rounders. Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran and Donovan Ferreira have come to the Rajasthan team through trade. Rajasthan has released two players through trade in the form of Sanju Samson and Nitish Rana.

When and where will IPL 2026 auction take place?

The auction process for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place on 16 December. This will be a mini auction, which will last for one day. The auction will be held in Abu Dhabi, which BCCI has officially announced.

The mini auction for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) is likely to take place on December 15. Before that, the deadline for all the 10 teams to submit the list of their retained and released players to the board is November 15. The trade deal of Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson is the most talked about right now, discussions have taken place between the two teams but the final decision has not been taken yet. Here we are telling you about those 5 players, who can go from the current team to the new team through trade deal.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul is currently involved in Delhi Capitals, who was bought by the franchise in the auction last year. Delhi even wanted to make him the captain, but Rahul did not agree. Although Rahul performed effectively with the bat, that is why Delhi does not want to give up this player easily.

Kolkata Knight Riders franchise wants to bring KL Rahul with itself, hence it was ready to give Andre Russell to Delhi through a trade deal. However, things probably won’t work out with Russell. Unless KKR gives Rinku Singh or Varun Chakraborty, Delhi may not make this deal.

sanju samson

There is also news about Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson that the franchise is discussing a deal to give him to CSK, but in exchange of the captain, it wants another player along with Ravindra Jadeja. There is also news that Delhi Capitals is also discussing to take Sanju Samson. Let us tell you that Sanju Samson has previously lived in Delhi.

washington beautiful

After Ashwin’s retirement, Chennai Super Kings is reportedly looking for a suitable replacement for him. The franchise is reported to have shown interest in Washington Sundar, who is currently part of Gujarat Titans. He is also playing matches for Team India. Ashwin had also revealed Washington’s reaction on this, he had said that Sundar does not know about this but he has improved his game a lot while being with Gujarat.

Washington Sundar fits into the CSK setup, but Gujarat head coach Ashish Nehra has ruled out such a trade deal but if it has been discussed then it is too early to rule out any possibility.

Venkatesh Iyer

Kolkata Knight Riders had bought Venkatesh Iyer for Rs 23.75 crore last year, who was a part of their team earlier also. According to the news, Royal Challengers Bangalore wants to take Venkatesh through a trade deal and is considering giving Phil Salt in exchange for him. However, there is one thing that is making this deal difficult and that is Iyer’s price, which is high.

Ravindra Jadeja

Not only this year but it will be the biggest deal of the entire IPL, if Chennai Super Kings gives Ravindra Jadeja to any franchise in a trade deal. There is news that discussions are going on between CSK and Rajasthan Royals, CSK wants Sanju Samson in exchange of Jadeja. Let us tell you that Jadeja started his IPL career by playing for Rajasthan team.

BCCI is considering organizing the IPL auction outside India. Although the IPL franchises have not been officially informed about the city yet, they have definitely been given a hint about it. Gulf countries are being considered as possible venues. It is likely to take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, but other Middle Eastern locations such as Oman and Qatar are reportedly also being considered.

Reason for IPL auction being held outside India

According to the report of Cricbuzz, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wanted to organize the auction in India only. However, now there are challenges in finding an ideal venue because at that time (December) it is the festival and wedding season in the country.

On which date will IPL 2026 auction take place?

The auction for Indian Premier League Season 19 may take place in mid-December, it may happen in the second week or third week. There is a possibility that BCCI will formally announce the date and venue of IPL auction before November 15. Before this, all the 10 franchises have to submit the list of retention and released players to BCCI.

The franchises still have about 2 weeks to submit the list of retention and release players. Before this, discussions regarding trade of players are intensifying. There is talk of trade of wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson, who is the captain of Rajasthan Royals. Although Sanju has not impressed in the Asia Cup or the currently ongoing T20 series against Australia, he is considered a big player in the IPL.

The discussion about Mohammed Shami is also intense, but according to the report, Sunrisers Hyderabad is not able to make up its mind to release him. According to the report of Cricbuzz, Hyderabad received some trade offers for Shami, which were rejected by the franchise.