On Saturday, November 15, all the 10 teams confirmed their retained and released players apart from some of the trade deals ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, which is expected to begin
in March of next year. The announcement is critical for the teams to start rebuilding their player roster for the next season and it will also serve as a precursor to the IPL 2026 auction reportedly slated to happen on December 16 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In a major trade deal, Rajasthan Royals (RR) parted ways with their captain Sanju Samson in exchange of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran from Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Apart from that, RR released the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, and Akash Madhwal, among others.
List of retained and released players for Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2026 auction
Retained players: Dhruv Jurel (wk), Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravindra Jadeja (Trade in), Sam Curran (Trade in), Donovan Ferreira (Trade in)
Released players: Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazal Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Sanju Samson (Trade out), Nitish Rana (Trade out)
