All the teams have started their preparations for IPL 2026. BCCI has finalized the date of December 15 for the IPL 2026 Mini Auction, before that all the teams will have to submit their retained and release lists to the BCCI by November 15, so that the mini auction can be held at the right time.

BCCI has given a deadline of 15th November to all the teams for IPL 2026 and if reports are to be believed, all the teams are going to release their release and retained lists on the evening of 15th November. During this period, there are 3 teams which can also release their captain.

These 3 teams will release their captains before IPL 2026

Before IPL 2026, there are 3 teams which can release their captain along with their players. In this article we are going to tell you about 3 such players.

Ajinkya Rahane (KKR)

KKR team can release its captain Ajinkya Rahane. The franchise had bought Ajinkya Rahane for just Rs 1.5 crore and made him the captain of its team, but the team’s performance under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane was very poor. The winning team of IPL 2024 was ranked 8th in IPL 2025.

Ajinkya Rahane’s personal performance was also nothing special, in such a situation the franchise would like to replace him and add a young player at the same price.

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals)

Rajasthan Royals has kept Sanju Samson as the captain of its team since IPL 2018. This player has performed well in this format in the last few years, but before IPL 2026, he has asked Rajasthan Royals to release himself.

Talks are going on with CSK regarding trade of Sanju Samson, but it has not been confirmed yet by both the teams. Even if this deal is not possible, Sanju Samson can ask for his release. His name is certain to appear in the mini auction of IPL 206.

Rishabh Pant (Lucknow Super Giants)

Rishabh Pant was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 27 crore in the mega auction of IPL 2025. With this, Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player of IPL, but his performance in IPL 2025 was very poor. In the last 2 matches of IPL, this player had scored 1 century and 1 half-century, but by then it was too late and the Lucknow Super Giants team was out of the race for the IPL 2025 playoffs.

Now Lucknow Super Giants can release him before the mini auction of IPL 2026. The team can make Mitchell Marsh its new captain in place of Rishabh Pant, who is the captain of Australia’s T20 team.