Franchises must submit their retention and release lists from 2025 squads by November 15, 3pm IST.
These will form a registered player pool, which will then be shortlisted for the auction.
The trading window, opened after the 2025 season, will remain open until a week before the auction and reopen a month before the 2026 IPL starts.
Teams cannot trade players expected to be bought during the auction.
On Thursday, Mumbai Indians, also five-time champions, procured India allrounder Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford in all-cash deals from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 2 crore and Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 2.60 crore, respectively.
The tentative window for IPL 2026 is March 15 to May 31.
