Preparations for the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League began on Saturday with all 10 teams announcing their retentions and trades ahead of the player auction.
The biggest move was one that had been expected for some time, and marks the beginning of a new era at one of the most successful franchises in the game.
Rajasthan Royals traded star India wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings in exchange for all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Samson has represented Rajasthan since his 2013 debut in the competition, apart from the two seasons at Delhi in 2016 and 2017.
The 31-year-old led Rajasthan to the IPL final in 2022 but found himself sidelined at Royals as the franchise veered towards Riyan Parag.
Samson made it clear he had no intention to play for Rajasthan and Chennai swooped in, who have been struggling for leadership and tactics with the enigmatic MS Dhoni slowly fading away and the next crop of players falling woefully short.
That meant a veteran of Chennai - Jadeja - was let go by the franchise. The India all-rounder returned to Rajasthan - the team where they won the inaugural season of the league.
Another intriguing trade happened between Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants. Arjun Tendulkar, who had played at Mumbai all his career owing to the patronage of his father and India legend Sachin, moved to Lucknow.
The left-arm pacer can now look forward to getting proper game time, having been reduced to the bench previously.
The focus will now move to the player auction which will take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on December 16.
IPL auctions have now shifted to the Middle East, with previous two events held in Jeddah and Dubai.
Chennai Super Kings
Amount spent: 816m rupees; Remaining purse: 434m rupees
MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson (Trade), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Dewald Brevis, Nathan Ellis, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Mukesh Choudhary, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Gurjapneet Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Amount spent: 1.08b rupees; Remaining purse: 164m rupees
Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Rajat Patidar, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh
Punjab Kings
Amount spent: 1.13b rupees; Remaining purse: 115m rupees
Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Shashank Singh, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar
Rajasthan Royals
Amount spent: 1.08b rupees; Remaining purse: 160m rupees
Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Sam Curran (T), Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira (T), Lhuan-Dre Pretorious, Jofra Archer, Shimron Hetmyer, Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, Ravindra Jadeja (T), Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Yudhvir Charak
Mumbai Indians
Amount spent: 1.22b rupees; Remaining purse: 27.5m rupees
Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Sherfane Rutherford (T), Will Jacks, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Mayank Markande (T), Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Shardul Thakur (T), Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar
Gujarat Titans
Amount spent: 1.12b rupees; Remaining purse: 129m rupees
Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Mohammad Siraj, Anuj Rawat, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Arshad Khan, R. Sai Kishore, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, Shahrukh Khan, Gurnoor Brar
Kolkata Knight Riders
Amount spent: 607m rupees; Remaining purse: 643m rupees
Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Lucknow Super Giants
Amount spent: 1.02b rupees; Remaining purse: 229.5m rupees
Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Mohammad Shami (T), Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (T), Abdul Samad, Arshin Kulkarni, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Amount spent: 995m rupees; Remaining purse: 255m rupees
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Smaran Ravichandaran, Zeeshan Ansari, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat
Delhi Capitals
Amount spent: 1.03 billion rupees; Remaining purse: 218m rupees
Axar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana (T), Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, Madhav Tiwari, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal
