IPL 2026 retention | List of RCB players released and retained

Ahead of the auctions for the 2026 season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL), defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), on Saturday, finalised their list of released and retained players.

Here are a list of players released by RCB:

Swastik Chikara

Mayank Agarwal

Liam Livingstone

Manoj Bhandage

Lungi Ngidi

Blessing Muzarabani

Mohit Rathee

Players retained by RCB:

Rajat Patidar (c)

Virat Kohli

Devdutt Padikkal

Phil Salt

Jitesh Sharma

Krunal Pandya

Swapnil Singh

Tim David

Romario Shepherd

Jacob Bethell

Josh Hazlewood

Yash Dayal

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Nuwan Thushara

Rasikh Salam

Abhinandan Singh

Suyash Sharma.We have been able to retain a really strong squad with, obviously, a great recent history of playing winning cricket and playing some outstanding cricket. I feel for the players that we are releasing, because I am pretty sure they loved the experience as much as I did last year. Of course, we will look to strengthen our squad, but in saying that, we are comfortable with retaining a strong base and a strong core of the team and the squad. 

"We have been able to retain a really strong squad with, obviously, a great recent history of playing winning cricket and playing some outstanding cricket. I feel for the players that we are releasing, because I am pretty sure they loved the experience as much as I did last year. Of course, we will look to strengthen our squad, but in saying that, we are comfortable with retaining a strong base and a strong core of the team and the squad," said RCB head coach Andy Flower.