IPL 2026 All 10 Teams Confirmed Indian Players Retention List
From Virat Kohli to MS Dhoni, explore the best predicted retained Indian players list for all 10 IPL teams ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026 Mini Auction.
The current buzz in the cricketing world is of two things. On one hand, there’s the ongoing Asia Cup 2025, and on the other hand, there’s the upcoming Indian Premier League Auction preparation. Both events are extremely important, and involve quality Indian players. It is the Indian players who define the Asia Cup as well as the Indian Premier League, and the fans are always excited to watch their favourite players in action.
However, the upcoming IPL 2026 Mini Auction is the only time when Overseas players will attract more attention than the Indian players. Indian players are the core of any IPL franchise, and hence, teams generally refrain from releasing the players, especially the quality ones. So, when teams finalise their retentions, Indian players are always on the priority list, and the quality ones are retained without a second thought.
Hence, we see overseas players getting surreal value in the Auction as there is an abundance of supply vis-à-vis demand in the Auction. With the Auction just a few months away, teams must have already finalised their retention list. But which Indian players will the teams look to retain? Well, let’s look at the existing squad, and identify the best predicted retained Indian players list for all 10 teams for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
IPL 2026 All 10 Teams Exclusive Best Retained Indian Players List
IPL 2026 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Andre Siddharth
- Anshul Kamboj
- Ayush Mhatre
- Khaleel Ahmed
- MS Dhoni
- Ramkrishna Ghosh
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Ruturaj Gaikwad (c)
- Shaik Rasheed
- Shivam Dube
- Urvil Patel
- Vansh Bedi
The Chennai Super Kings team should retain a solid Indian core led by their Captain and leader, Ruturaj Gaikwad. While MS Dhoni led in IPL 2025, Ruturaj Gaikwad should be back for IPL 2026. The team has a good mix of youth and experience in the Indian contingent. Among young Indian players, the CSK team will rely on the likes of Ayush Mhatre, Anshul Kamboj, Urvil Patel, etc. Whereas among experienced ones, the CSK team shall rely on MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, etc.
IPL 2026 Delhi Capitals (DC) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Abhishek Porel
- Ashutosh Sharma
- Axar Patel (c)
- KL Rahul
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Mukesh Kumar
- Sameer Rizvi
- Vipraj Nigam
- T Natarajan
The Delhi Capitals team doesn’t boast of a lot of Indian players, and in all, they should retain only 9 names. There’s a big discussion of KL Rahul wanting to leave the Delhi franchise, but all that dust should settle as we inch closer to the Auction. KL Rahul is an important player for the Delhi Capitals, and after Axar Patel, he remains invaluable. The DC team should also retain some of the exciting young Indian talent, including Ashutosh Sharma, Abhishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi, and Vipraj Nigam.
IPL 2026 Gujarat Titans (GT) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Anuj Rawat
- Arshad Khan
- Kulwant Kejroliya
- Mahipal Lomror
- Manav Suthar
- Mohammed Siraj
- Nishant Sindhu
- Prasidh Krishna
- R Sai Kishore
- Rahul Tewatia
- Sai Sudharsan
- Shahrukh Khan
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Washington Sundar
The Gujarat Titans team has a strong Indian core – both in the batting and bowling departments. Among batters, the Gujarat Titans team has solid players like Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, and Mahipal Lomror. Whereas among Indian bowlers, the Gujarat Titans have Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Arshad Khan, and Mohammed Siraj among the quality ones. Overall, the GT team has a solid mix of youth and experience among Indian players.
IPL 2026 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Angkrish Raghuvanshi
- Anukul Roy
- Harshit Rana
- Mayank Markande
- Ramandeep Singh
- Rinku Singh
- Umran Malik
- Vaibhav Arora
- Varun Chakravarthy
When we look at the existing KKR team, the Indian core doesn’t look that good. Sure, there are some solid names like Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, and Ajinkya Rahane, but most of the Indian players in the team are young. So be it Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh among batters, or Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, or Umran Malik among bowlers, all are young. While KKR should retain 10 Indian players, the team may mostly let go of Venkatesh Iyer, who just doesn’t fit in the strongest 11, aside from being uberly expensive.
IPL 2026 Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Abdul Samad
- Akash Deep
- Akash Singh
- Arshin Kulkarni
- Avesh Khan
- Ayush Badoni
- Digvesh Rathi
- Himmat Singh
- Prince Yadav
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Rishabh Pant (c)
- Shahbaz Ahmed
- Shardul Thakur
Probably the only team that has Indian bowlers in abundance, the LSG core of Indian players seems a mismatch. While the team has plenty of Indian bowlers, the Indian batters are hardly few, and that kind of disturbs the team balance drastically. Given that the LSG team has only Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni, and Abdul Samad among quality Indian batters, the team relies heavily on Overseas batters. To balance it somewhat, the LSG team may release a few Indian bowlers like Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan.
IPL 2026 Mumbai Indians (MI) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Arjun Tendulkar
- Ashwani Kumar
- Deepak Chahar
- Hardik Pandya (c)
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Karn Sharma
- Naman Dhir
- Raj Bawa
- Robin Minz
- Rohit Sharma
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Tilak Varma
- Vignesh Puthur
One of the strongest core of Indian players among all teams, the Mumbai Indians team boasts of some of the most outstanding Indian players. Be it Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, and Tilak Varma among batters, or Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, and Karn Sharma among bowlers, there’s solid quality of Indian core in the mix. The team also has emerging Indian talent in the form of Raj Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Robin Minc, etc.
IPL 2026 Punjab Kings (PBKS) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Arshdeep Singh
- Harpreet Brar
- Kuldeep Sen
- Musheer Khan
- Nehal Wadhera
- Prabsimran Singh
- Pravin Dubey
- Priyansh Arya
- Pyla Avinash
- Shashank Singh
- Shreyas Iyer (c)
- Suryansh Shedge
- Vyshak Vijaykumar
- Yash Thakur
- Yuzvendra Chahal
The IPL 2025 Runner-up team, the Punjab Kings, differentiates itself from the core of uncapped Indian players in their lineup. Not just 1-2, but the Punjab Kings have uncapped Indian talent in plenty. Right from Priyansh Arya, Prabsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Suryansh Shedge, and Shashank Singh among batters to Vyshak Vijaykumar, Harpreet Brar, and Yash Thakur among bowlers, the core of uncapped Indian players is extremely solid in the PBKS lineup.
IPL 2026 Rajasthan Royals (RR) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Akash Madhwal
- Dhruv Jurel
- Nitish Rana
- Riyan Parag
- Sandeep Sharma
- Sanju Samson (c)
- Shubham Dubey
- Tushar Deshpande
- Vaibhav Suryavanshi
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Yudhvir Charak
When we look at the Rajasthan Royals team, you can see there are some solid Indian players in the lineup. Right from Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, and Nitish Rana among batters to Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, and Akash Madhwal among bowlers, there’s solid Indian talent in there. However, from the team balance POV, the team is missing a quality Indian spinner and All-rounder, and this is an area that troubled them in 2025, and may trouble them in 2026 if they don’t address it.
IPL 2026 Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Devdutt Padikkal
- Jitesh Sharma
- Krunal Pandya
- Manoj Bhandage
- Mayank Agarwal
- Rajat Patidar (c)
- Rasikh Dar
- Suyash Sharma
- Swapnil Singh
- Swastik Chikara
- Virat Kohli
- Yash Dayal
The champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru team should retain almost their entire Indian core for IPL 2026. The team would like to stick to their trophy-winning squad, and given the strength of their Indian players, they ideally would also not want to do any experimentation. Hence, right from Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal, Jitesh Sharma, and Rajat Patidar among batters to Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Suyash Sharma among bowlers, the team retain almost everyone.
IPL 2026 Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Predicted Retained Indian Players List
- Abhinav Manohar
- Abhishek Sharma
- Aniket Verma
- Atharva Taide
- Harsh Dubey
- Harshal Patel
- Ishan Kishan
- Jaydev Unadkat
- Nitish Reddy
- Simarjeet Singh
- Zeeshan Ansari
Talking about Sunrisers Hyderabad, you would not find star Indian players in the lineup. Abhishek Sharma, who is the number 1 T20I batter in the world currently, is their star Indian player, and aside from him, SRH have the likes of Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, and Harshal Patel among known Indian talent. Complementing this experienced Indian talent, the SRH team has young talent in the form of Aniket Verma, Harsh Dubey, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, etc.
So, that’s about the best retained Indian players list for all 10 teams for IPL 2026.
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