On Saturday, November 15, ten Indian Premier League clubs announced their list of players' retention ahead of the IPL 2026 mini auction.
The auction will take place on December 16 in Abu Dhabi and a month before that, the teams revealed which players they held on to and the players they let go of.
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Chennai Super Kings grabbed the limelight in this year's trade-offs as they completed the blockbuster signing of Sanju Samson and in a trade deal, they sent Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to Rajasthan Royals.
Kolkata Knight Riders made the most noise on the deadline day as they released the majority of the overseas players, including franchise legend Andre Russell.
Last season's runners-up Punjab Kings released Australian stars Glenn Maxwell and Josh Inglis following their inconsistent performances in IPL 2025.
READ: Can teams trade players even after the IPL 2026 retention deadline and before the mini auction?
Mohammed Kaif makes bold prediction that CSK will sign Australia star
With the mini auction now fast approaching, former India player Mohammed Kaif boldly claimed that CSK could consider picking up hard-hitter Maxwell in the auction to strengthen their middle-order.
On his YouTube channel, Kaif said: "CSK will go behind Maxwell. They can target Russell as well. There are good players they can go after. Maxwell, Miller, and Russell - they will definitely go after these three. There is no Jadeja so they need someone at five/six and a spinner so Maxwell could fit in."
He further added: "Bishnoi could go to CSK. I think it will be difficult for Zampa as franchises are backing Indian players. Rahul Chahar may not get a lot of money. Karn Sharma could do well, maybe he is ahead of Chahar.
"He could go to SRH as they released Zampa. I am looking at him. Theekshana and Hasaranga also got released. So foreign spinners may not attract a lot of money, unless you are someone like Narine."
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