IPL 2026 All 10 Teams Best Retained Players Playing 11 Ranking

RCB and Mumbai Indians lead the pack, as we explore the ranking of the best retained players playing 11 for all 10 teams for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.  

The IPL 2026 Mini Auction is just a couple of months away, and almost all 10 teams are in the final stages of finalising their best retained and released players list for IPL 2026. In IPL 2025, which had a Mega Auction, we had seen the teams in a rebuilding stage as almost 50-60% of the squad was rebuilt with teams retaining only 4-6 players ahead of the Auction. However, this won’t be the case ahead of the IPL 2026 Mini Auction.

With IPL 2026 going to witness a Mini Auction, almost all 10 teams will retain 80-90% of their squad, and will look to fine-tune their squad in the Mini Auction. This means most teams already have their playing 11-12 ready, and will only look to fill gaps in the Auction. This is good news as teams will be more competitive next season, and the comfort level of playing together will only increase for each team.  

While the Indian Premier League has redefined the playing 11 to playing 12, given the inclusion of the impact rule, we will, for now, stick to evaluating the best playing 11. This isn’t the perfect playing 11, as that is what the teams will be searching for the missing links in the Auction itself. Hence, for pre-auction evaluation, we will look at the best retained players playing 11 for all 10 teams for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. 

IPL 2025 Ranking Best Retained Players Playing 11 for All 10 Teams

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Mitchell Marsh 
2. Aiden Markram 
3. Rishabh Pant (c&wk)
4. Nicholas Pooran 
5. Ayush Badoni
6. Abdul Samad
7. Shahbaz Ahmed
8. Akash Deep
9. Avesh Khan
10. Digvesh Rathi
11. Will O’Rourke 

At number 10, we have the LSG team with a decent retained players playing 11. The LSG team is expected to once again rely on their Overseas batters, and undoubtedly, there is supreme quality there. However, when we look at the rest of the playing 11, we can see the team lacks experienced finishers, and the team seems to rely heavily on Indian bowlers, who also lack experience. While LSG can’t do much about it, they would ideally like to get experience in the finishing or bowling department at the Auction. 

Delhi Capitals (DC) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing XI

1. Faf du Plessis
2. Abhishek Porel (wk)
3. KL Rahul
4. Sameer Rizvi
5. Tristan Stubbs
6. Ashutosh Sharma
7. Axar Patel (c)
8. Vipraj Nigam
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Mitchell Starc
11. Mukesh Kumar

Coming to number 9, we have the Delhi Capitals team, which kind of looks decent on paper based on the predicted retentions. DC might continue with Faf du Plessis for one more year, and he seems a better prospect compared to Jake Fraser-McGurk for now. However, looking at the current batting, the team may need an experienced replacement for Sameer Rizvi. There is still space for an Overseas batter, and DC can afford to buy a strong overseas middle-order in the Auction. 

Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Yashasvi Jaiswal
2. Vaibhav Suryavanshi
3. Sanju Samson (c&wk)
4. Riyan Parag
5. Nitish Rana
6. Dhruv Jurel
7. Shimron Hetmyer 
8. Wanindu Hasaranga 
9. Akash Madhwal
10. Jofra Archer 
11. Sandeep Sharma

Number 8 belongs to the Rajasthan Royals team, and they seem marginally better than DC, purely because of the firepower in the batting department. The batting looks extremely strong with someone like Hetmyer coming in to bat at 7. However, the bowling lacks experience. Barring Jofra and Hasaranga, the team can’t rely fully on Sandeep and Akash. An experienced and T20-skilled bowler is the need of the hour, and that’s what RR should look at in the Auction. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing XI

1. Travis Head
2. Abhishek Sharma
3. Ishan Kishan (wk)
4. Heinrich Klaasen
5. Nitish Reddy
6. Abhinav Manohar
7. Aniket Verma
8. Pat Cummins (c)
9. Harshal Patel
10. Zeeshan Ansari
11. Ehsan Malinga 

Coming to Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team should be able to replicate almost their entire playing 11, except for one big change. The team may big time contemplate releasing Mohammed Shami. With Shami not there, the pace bowling lineup for now should rely on Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, and Ehsan Malinga. The batting lineup still looks power-packed, but an experienced finisher for Abhinav Manohar or Aniket Verma will be ideal. The team still doesn’t look perfect, and will need work on experience in the Auction. 

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Ayush Mhatre
2. Ruturaj Gaikwad (c)
3. Urvil Patel
4. Ravindra Jadeja
5. Dewald Brevis
6. Shivam Dube
7. MS Dhoni (wk)
8. Sam Curran
9. Khaleel Ahmed
10. Matheesha Pathirana
11. Noor Ahmad 

We have a surprise at number 6, but CSK does have a solid playing 11, even before the Auction. The inclusion of Brevis, Ayush, and Urvil has already started paying dividends, as we had seen towards the end of the tournament last year. With Ruturaj coming back, CSK does have a solid playing 11. While the team looks solid on paper, they still will have to play as a team, which was missing big time. If the CSK team can get another experienced batter for Urvil, the team will then look perfectly sorted.

Gujarat Titans (GT) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing XI

1. Sai Sudharsan
2. Shubman Gill (c)
3. Jos Buttler (wk)
4. Washington Sundar
5. Shahrukh Khan
6. Sherfane Rutherford
7. Rahul Tewatia
8. Rashid Khan
9. Mohammed Siraj
10. Prasidh Krishna
11. R Sai Kishore

Coming to number 5, we have the Gujarat Titans team, and once again, their performance has always been better than their squad strength on paper. There are obvious weaknesses in the squad – Middle and lower-order, but the top-order is so top-notch that this weakness was not exposed, except for the Playoffs. If GT are to make inroads in IPL 2026, they definitely need to invest 1-2 quality experienced batters in the Auction, else winning the IPL might look a distant dream. 

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Quinton de Kock (wk)
2. Sunil Narine 
3. Angkrish Raghuvanshi
4. Ajinkya Rahane (c)
5. Rinku Singh
6. Andre Russell 
7. Ramandeep Singh
8. Harshit Rana
9. Varun Chakravarthy
10. Anrich Nortje 
11. Vaibhav Arora

Number 4 belongs to the KKR team for now, and if the team gets rid of Venkatesh Iyer, the team’s balance even before the Auction looks pretty good. Without Venkatesh, who looked out of place in the team, the KKR team’s playing 11 looks similar to what it was in 2025, but with better clarity of roles for all players. Ideally, they may not need any extra players in the side, but the team can bring more experience in the bowling, and they can go a long way for sure. 

Punjab Kings (PBKS) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Prabsimran Singh
2. Priyansh Arya
3. Josh Inglis (wk)
4. Shreyas Iyer (c)
5. Nehal Wadhera
6. Shashank Singh
7. Marcus Stoinis 
8. Marco Jansen 
9. Lockie Ferguson
10. Arshdeep Singh
11. Yuzvendra Chahal

For number 3, we have the Punjab Kings team, and one might be surprised to see it ranked 3, and not 2. Well, honestly, the Mumbai Indians team looks more experienced with proven match-winners as compared to the Punjab Kings. But PBKS played outstanding cricket, and the inexperience wasn’t visible. That is what differentiates PBKS. However, PBKS lie on a thin rope. It’s all going well for the moment. But if inexperience gets exposed, the entire bundle can come down without us even realising. 

Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Ryan Rickelton (wk) 
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Tilak Varma
4. Suryakumar Yadav
5. Will Jacks 
6. Hardik Pandya (c)
7. Naman Dhir
8. Allah Ghazanfar 
9. Deepak Chahar
10. Jasprit Bumrah
11. Trent Boult 

For number 2, we have the Mumbai Indians team, and barring the performance, which wasn’t matched with potential in IPL 2025, the team, even before the Auction, looks locked and loaded. One can’t point to any major weakness in this playing 11, and if we add the impact player, it will make them stronger. The only issue with MI is the injury to Deepak Chahar. If Deepak can remain fit, this team can surely give a tough fight to any team in the tournament.  

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) IPL 2026 Best Retained Players Playing 11

1. Virat Kohli
2. Phil Salt
3. Devdutt Padikkal
4. Rajat Patidar (c)
5. Mayank Agarwal
6. Tim David 
7. Jitesh Sharma (wk)
8. Krunal Pandya
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
10. Josh Hazlewood
11. Yash Dayal

Finally, at numero uno, we have the IPL 2025 champions, RCB, and the team actually looks quite good to retain the trophy. RCB played like a team, and filled their gaps perfectly. If Devdutt returns, the RCB team can drop Liam Livingstone, and that will allow them to strengthen their bowling department even further. However, if RCB can bring a better finisher in place of Mayank, that would be even better for the team overall. Right now, based on predicted retentions, MI seems to be the only team that can give a tough fight to them. 

So, that’s about the ranking of the best retained players playing 11 for all 10 teams for IPL 2026. Which team looks the strongest on paper? Kindly share your thoughts on ipladdafounder@gmail.com

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