IPL 2026 live - Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Pathirana, among big releases

"When we look at a good finisher, someone who attacks spin and pace, Donovan Ferreira stands out, has had a good year, a player with great potential. When we looked at it, felt it was the right trade with Nitish. To have him in our bank gives us a big advantage in managing our purse, also the ability to play different combinations having traded Jadeja and Sam Curran. It allows us flexibility to try out different options."

The only other overseas players released apart from David Miller is Shamar Joseph, the West Indies quick.

The other quick they've released is Akash Deep, who was signed for INR 8.25 crore. They've also shown a lot of faith in Mayank Yadav, who they've invested in heavily and backed him through his several injuries.

They'll hope, Mayank will hope, IPL 2026 is a different story.

Stop the press. A decision has been made. Big news from the DC camp!

T Natarajan will continue to play for DC. He was signed for INR 10.75 crore, but didn't play a whole lot due to injuries. Had a lukewarm TNPL, but has since recovered fully and is fit and firing. He has now been named in TN's squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

A massive show of faith from the DC management.

Among their big-ticket releases as said earlier are Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Sediqullah Atal, the Afghanistan batter, also goes back into the auction pool.

The big news is Heinrich Klaasen is retained, their most expensive buy. The releases include Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar, the legspinning duo, along with Wiaan Mulder. Abhinav Manohar, one of their Indian finishers who didn’t get a lot of opportunities at IPL 2025, also goes out.

Coach Daniel Vettori's thoughts: Wanted to keep nucleus together, happy with how players performed. Happy to go with enough of a purse to target players. Any time you have chance to add quality players who may have not fit elsewhere, hopefully we can identify them and add to our squad."

Not surprisingly, they've let go off Liam Livingstone in what is their only big overseas release. Lungi Ngidi was largely a reserve, and has been let go.

They've retained Yash Dayal, who hasn't played any form of cricket since the IPL final on June 3. He is in the midst of some legal challenges that forced him to be a non-participant in the UP T20 League. He hasn't played for Uttar Pradesh at the Ranji Trophy yet, but perhaps RCB know something we don't, and that they're confident Dayal will take the field come IPL 2026.

Among other releases are Mayank Agarwal, who was signed as a replacement for the injured Devdutt Padikkal. Swastik Chikara goes out without playing a game.

Massive news from Nagraj Gollapudi that could send shockwaves among KKR fans.

In the most high-profile releases in IPL history, KKR have decided to let go their star allrounder Andre Russell.

Russell has been a constant since coming on board in IPL 2014, and was among five players retained by the franchise ahead of the 2025 mega auction for INR 12 crore.

The other overseas players released are Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje, Quintin de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Spencer Johnson.

The big call apart from Russell, of course, and not surprisingly, is the release of Venkatesh Iyer.

They’ve released four overseas players, but none of them were regulars. Out go Lizaad Williams, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bevon Jacobs and Reece Topley.

They’ve retained Will Jacks, the England allrounder, who shores up the middle order with Sherfane Rutherford, traded from Titans.

The surprising aspect of MI’s release list are a few uncapped Indian names who you thought had the potential to build on. Vignesh Puthur, the left-arm wrist spinner, and Andhra seamer V Satyanarayana Raju, who was touted to be an exciting death-overs prospect. But Puthur is understood to be still recovering from the injury he sustained during the 2025 IPL. The franchise is believed to be helping with his rehab.

Not so much of a surprise that they’ve traded Arjun Tendulkar to LSG, after having received a handful of games during his five seasons with the team.

They’ve freed up INR 16.05 crores heading into the auction.

Jadeja’s trade makes it a fascinating tussle for captaincy. Wonder who among Jadeja, Jurel, Jaiswal or Parag will be anointed as captain.

Royals have released the Sri Lankan duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, along with Fazalhaq Farooqi among the overseas stars.

Among the Indians released, Akash Madhwal has played most games (not for them, but MI). The others on the release list are Ashok Sharma, Kunal Rathore and Kumar Kartikeya.

Chennai Super Kings have released the most number of players: 11.

This includes four overseas players in Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Matheesha Pathirana and Sam Curran (traded to Rajasthan Royals).

They’ve also clearly had enough of their misfiring middle order from IPL 2025. Andre Siddarth goes out (without getting a game), as do Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Shaikh Rasheed and Vijay Shankar.

Dewald Brewis remains as expected, as does Gurjapneet Singh, whose injury paved way for the big-ticket replacement buy.

Not long to go before IPL announces the retentions.

We're awaiting play to finish on Day 2 of the Kolkata Test between India and South Africa.

They've decided to part ways with Afghanistan's Karim Janat, Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka, South Africa pacer Gerald Coetzee, along with the Indian domestic pair of Mahipal Lomror and Kulwant Khejroliya.

Yesterday, they had confirmed the transfer of West Indies finisher Sherfane Rutherford to Mumbai Indians through an all-cash deal.

Signed for INR 75 lakh (base price), Janat, a seam-bowling allrounder, featured in just one game for GT. In that game, his only over went for 30. He didn't bat either.

More news from Nagraj Gollapudi: India allrounder Venkatsh Iyer is set to go back into the auction, which will free up INR 23.75 crores from KKR's auction purse. Along with Iyer, they're also set to offload Anrich Nortje (6.5 cr), Quinton de Kock (3.6 cr), Spencer Johnson (2.8 cr), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (2 cr), Moeen Ali (2 cr) along with uncapped pair of Luvnith Sisodia and Chetan Sakariya who had replaced India fast man Umran Malik.

They're still deliberating on the merits and de-merits of keeping T Natarajan, but there seems to be consensus within the ownership that Delhi Capitals will release Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk, reports Nagraj Gollapudi. Also on their release list is India pacer Mohit Sharma.

While Faf was bought for INR 2 crore and Mohit for INR 2.2 crore, DC used the RTM option to secure Mc-Gurk, who astonished everyone whis boundary hitting spree in the mini-audition of sorts at the backend of the 2024 season when he blasted 222 runs off 81 deliveries.

Here's Nagraj Gollapudi:

New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson is set to be retained by Punjab Kings. Ferguson suffered a “serious” injury in April while playing against Sunrisers Hyderabad as he hobbled off bowling after bowling just two deliveries. PBKS would replace Ferguson with fellow New Zelaand allrounder Kyle Jamieson, who is among the list of released players.

PBKS bought Ferguson at his base price of 2 crore and have decided to retain him. Among the overseas players PBKS are set to retain include Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett and Mitchell Owen.

Here's what ESPNcricinfo's stats guru Shubh Agarwal thinks:

They've been deliberating on it for a while, but it looks like CSK have finally made a decision on Matheesha Pathirana, and he's headed to the auction. He had been retained ahead of the 2024 season for INR 13 crore.

He picked 13 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 10.13. Head coach Stephen Fleming said that the franchise was concerned by Pathirana’s drop in impact which he suspected had to do with the SLC tweaking the bowler’s release point which was causing him troubles.

There's clearly a bond and a connect, and CSK will look to get him back for much cheaper. How cheap, we will find out on December 16 in Abu Dhabi.

"Rajasthan Royals gave me my first platform and my first taste of victory. Coming back feels special - it's not just a team for me, it's home. Rajasthan Royals is where I won my first IPL, and I hope to win more with this current group of players."

New, old head coach Kumar Sangakkara adds: "He's [Jadeja] fearless, adaptable, and thrives in pressure situations with both bat and ball. Together, Jadeja and Sam give us balance, leadership, and the kind of match-winning depth we want as we build for the future."

He captained KKR in Shreyas Iyer's absence in 2023, then went to RR at the mega auction. Now, he comes home to Delhi Capitals for his auction price of INR 4.2 crore. Royals get Donovan Ferreira, the big-hitting finisher from South Africa in exchange.

Ferreira's pay is up to INR 75 lakh from 50 lakh previously.

He hails from Uttar Pradesh, and has some fond memories of playing in Lucknow. It's hard to look past that spell he bowled to Ben Stokes in that World Cup game two years ago.

Shami will now have a chance of making more such memories at the Ekana Stadium, as LSG complete an all-cash deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

This marks a reunion with B Arun, with whom he formed a formidable partnership, plotting India's Test success during their golden run between 2017-2021.

It's IPL retention day and it brings the same excitement and buzz as counting day!

And there's some confirmation of what we've known will happen for the past few days. Ravindra Jadeja returns to where it all began for him, straight out of a victorious Under-19 World Cup campaign in 2008. Where he was given the title of a 'rockstar' by the late Shane Warne.

Ravindra 'Sir' Jadeja is now ready to belt 'Halla Bol'. And he joins them for INR 14 crore, down from INR 18 crore he was paid by Chennai Super Kings. Along with Jadeja, Royals have secured Sam Curran for INR 2.4 crore.

It's more or less certain now that Royals will have a new full-time captain. And there are several candidates. Jadeja himself, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag, who stood in for a few games last season when Samson was injured.

Today we got to learn of a few big names who are set to go into the auction and some of the key players retained by the franchises ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, which is set to be held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi.

But tomorrow is the retention deadline, and there are still some trades to be finalised before the teams reveal who they are keeping and who they are letting go of. So put this in your bookmarks and tune in again tomorrow to stay updated with the latest stories to break.

Five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings are set to release their pair of left-hand New Zealand batters: Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. While Conway was bought for INR 6.25 crore at the auction last year, CSK bought back Ravindra via the right-to-match card option for INR 4 crore. Both players were expected to play a critical role in CSK's top order but both struggled through the season where CSK finished last with just four wins.

Ravindra made 191 runs at a strike rate of 128.18 and Conway scored 156 runs at a strike rate of 131.09. It is understood the CSK think tank opted to release both batters considering it has decided to invest in the development of the young batters that were added to the squad late in the season including South Africa batter Dewald Brevis along with the uncapped Indian pair of Ayush Mhatre and Urvil Patel who are likely to be part of the XI for the 2026 season.

Full story here.

Having built what turned out to be championship winning squad, the only pressing question for 2025 IPL winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru was whether to retain or release their England allrounder Liam Livingstone. ESPNcricinfo has learned RCB have ticked the release option.

Livingstone, who was bought for INR 8.75 crore at the 2025 auction, made 112 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 133.33 and picked two wickets in the nine overs he bowled in five innings at an economy of 8.44. The presence of Australian powerhitter Tim David along with West Indies allrounder Romario Shepherd means RCB already have enough options for the finisher’s role in the lower order and probably they might have wanted to utilise the money accrued from Livingstone’s release to go to the 2026 auction with a strong purse.

More details here.

More from Nagraj

Glenn Maxwell is set to be the headline release at Punjab Kings, the 2025 IPL runners-up. Maxwell missed playing the final after sustaining a finger fracture midway into the IPL. Maxwell’s fellow Aussie teammate, Mitchell Owen, was brought in by PBKS as his replacement. It is understood that Owen is among the players the franchise is set to retain.

Maxwell, who retired from ODIs in June, was bought by PBKS at the 2025 auction for INR 4.2 crore. Maxwell’s returns were poor by his lofty standards: he scored 48 runs in six innings, including single-digit scores in each of his last four games.

Among the other players PBKS are set to release include Aaron Hardie, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dube and Vishnu Vinod.

Full story here.

We have our first bit of retention news coming in, courtesy Nagraj Gollapudi. LSG are set to retain India fast bowler Mayank Yadav but will release legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, South Africa batter David Miller and India fast bowler Akash Deep.

Uncapped Indian allrounder Arshin Kulkarni and South Africa batter Matthew Breetzke are also set to be among their retainees.

More details here

In another deal involving a high-profile India player, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have agreed to trade Mohammed Shami to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

ESPNcricinfo has learned that it is likely to be an all-cash deal, with LSG paying SRH INR 10 crore (US$1.12 million approx.), the price Shami was bought for at the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Full story here.

Shardul Thakur is coming home. He is Mumbai's Ranji Trophy captain in the ongoing season. He was a replacement player for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) last year at his base price of INR 2 crore. Mumbai Indians (MI) made an in-principle agreement with LSG to get Thakur on an all-cash deal.

MI also brought in West Indies allrounder Sherfane Rutherford for INR 2.6crore, the price which Gujarat Titans paid to get him on board at the last auction.

In a separate deal, MI decided to release Arjun Tendulkar to LSG so that he could get more playing opportunities. He was selected at INR 30 lakh by INR, and is a deal that is separate from Thakur's.

Read all about it here.