Rajasthan Royals at IPL 2026 auction: Purse, slots and squad status

The IPL 2026 auction is set to unfold in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, with the one-day event beginning at 2:30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST).

Rajasthan Royals enter the mini-auction with a remaining purse of ₹16.05 crore and a settled core, having retained 13 players - eight Indians and five overseas.

The inaugural champions strengthened the squad further through three trades, taking their total player count to 16.

With the IPL allowing squads of between 18 and 25 players, Rajasthan Royals can add a minimum of two and a maximum of nine players.

Furthermore, with seven foreign players already on the books, Rajasthan Royals can sign only one more overseas player for the IPL 2026 season.

The retained Indian core remains the backbone of the squad, featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma and Tushar Deshpande.

The overseas retention list includes batters Shimron Hetmyer and Lhuan-dre Pretorius and fast bowlers Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka and Nandre Burger.

Ahead of the season, the Royals also completed key trades, bringing in Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran from Chennai Super Kings in exchange for Sanju Samson, and Donovan Ferreira from Delhi Capitals in a deal involving Nitish Rana.

The players released included Indians Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma and Kumar Kartikeya, along with overseas players Fazal Farooqi, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana.

Across the league, teams will compete for up to 77 available slots, with a combined auction purse of ₹237.55 crore. A total of 173 players were retained by the 10 franchises, while 359 players - including 115 overseas - have been shortlisted for the auction.