Ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction, teams are looking to trade players to bolster their side or free up their purse in the trading window. The final date for announcing retentions is Saturday, November 15. Meanwhile, the IPL 2026 mini-auction is reportedly set to be held in Abu Dhabi on December 16.

Before the deadline, the Mumbai Indians have been very active, trading in Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford from Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, respectively. There are reports of Sanju Samson heading to Chennai Super Kings from Rajasthan Royals in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.

Fans will be waiting with bated breath to find out which players are being released and who are being retained by the franchises ahead of the mini-auction. The retentions will be telecast live on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 (Tamil), Star Sports 2 (Telugu), and Star Sports 2 (Malayalam) from 5 PM IST on Saturday. JioStar will also be live-streaming the IPL 2026 retention.

It is important to note that, unlike the mega-auction, there is no limit to the number of players an IPL franchise can retain in a mini-auction. According to the IPL rules, each team needs to have a maximum of 25 players, and the total purse for each franchise will be around INR 120 crore.