5 Players GT might release ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Gujarat Titans finished IPL 2025 with plenty of noise, with big wins, high-profile signings and a few awkward selection dilemmas. Retention decisions for 2026 will come down to three things, i.e., availability, role overlap, and bang-for-buck. Below are five players who make sense as release candidates for GT, and why each move would be defensible. 

1) Kagiso Rabada

Rabada is an elite strike bowler when fit and focused, and GT paid heavily to bring him in. But his 2025 campaign was interrupted. A provisional suspension over a failed drug test saw him miss time, and that disrupted continuity for a team that relies on steady overseas availability. 

When a club must juggle four overseas slots across an 18-match season, an expensive overseas seamer who’s intermittently unavailable becomes a liability, not because of ability, but because his absence forces reshuffles. Releasing Rabada would be a harsh call on talent, but a realistic way to buy guaranteed availability or balance the purse.

2) Ishant Sharma

Ishant brought experience and an ability to extract awkward bounce in some matches, and GT used him as part of their Indian seam depth in 2025. Still, Ishant is a veteran whose profile is heavy on experience and light on the multi-year upside that franchises usually prize at auction. 

If GT want to prioritise younger, higher-workload Indian quicks who can play every game and carry the death-over burden, releasing Ishant to free a domestic spot and a small purse chunk is an understandable roster move. His value as a senior seamer in the team is surely there, but the team have also viewed him as a short-term solution.

3) Gerald Coetzee 

Coetzee arrived with a high ceiling and quick returns in other T20 leagues, and GT spent a hefty amount to secure him at the 2025 auction. He produced some eye-catching spells and athletic moments on the field, but GT’s pace group is crowded, in domestic and overseas slots, while the overseas options in the team are limited. 

That means Coetzee sometimes sat through selection permutations or rotated in and out. If GT decide to prioritise a specialist domestic seamer plus one fixed overseas quick, Coetzee becomes an auctionable asset whose sale would free purse and clarify selection. 

4) Rahul Tewatia

Tewatia’s reputation as a finisher and occasional miracle worker is undeniable. He has given GT late-order fireworks and remains a strong brand asset. But 2025 showed how match plans can squeeze finishers out if a team prefers multiple batting-allele all-rounders or wants to strengthen the pace department. Tewatia’s specialist finisher/part-time bowler profile becomes redundant. 

Letting him go would be painful for fans, but it could free a mid-tier purse for either a specialist death bowler or a young Indian batter who gives more consistent 15–30-over value. He has played several memorable knocks, but it might be time to bid adieu..

5) Karim Janat

Janat arrived as a low-cost, high-upside pick and had a couple of high-variance outings, including at least one very expensive over that made headlines. For a cheap squad role, he’s useful depth, but if GT want to upgrade a rotational overseas slot to a player who can be relied on every match (either with the bat or ball), Janat is the kind of peripheral name teams release to clear a purse sliver and an overseas slot. Both his acquisition price and the fact that his on-field returns were uneven in a brief 2025 window.

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