IPL 2026 comes with a challenge for the Delhi Capitals. The team management has started their planning for a new, effective season.
The team looks balanced with all top players retained. Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchel Starc, and others make a winning combination. In the last edition, Delhi Capitals could produce some entertaining Cricket with their setup of players, with du Plessis being released.
There were a few close games that the Elhi Capitals couldn’t win, and learning from the mistakes, the team management will be more eager to go for the next round of IPL 2026 auctions.
Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Stubbs, Starc, and all are in excellent touch playing for their Country and are geared up for the new season of IPL 2026.
Having a purse of around Rs 21.8 Crores, DC will look forward to trading a couple of all-rounders and an attacking batter to fill in the shoes of Du Plessis and others. They have 8 vacant slots with 5 overseas players. It will be a tough call for the Delhi Capitals to acquire players of repute to balance the team and also reach the qualifying round to fight for the IPL 2026 trophy.
In the last edition, Delhi Capitals, with their strong combination, finished at number five in the points table. The effort to find good players within their budget and retain the big names will be their key strategy in this edition of the IPL 2026.
Delhi Capitals Retained Players For 2026 Season
RETAINED PLAYERS (17 Players) for IPL 2026, DC players who remain as the key players. The likes of KL Rahul and Axar Patel are in their best form, with Kuldeep Yadav and Mitchell Starc leading the bowling attack, along with all the other main players, making the team a formidable winning combination.
| Player | Price (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|
| Axar Patel (c) | 16.5 |
| KL Rahul | 14 |
| Karun Nair | 5.5 |
| Abishek Porel | 4 |
| Tristan Stubbs | 10 |
| Sameer Rizvi | 3.2 |
| Ashutosh Sharma | 50L |
| Vipraj Nigam | 30L |
| Madhav Tiwari | 30L |
| Tripurana Vijay | 30L |
| Ajay Mandal | 30L |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 13.25 |
| Mitchell Starc | 11.5 |
| T Natarajan | 10.75 |
| Mukesh Kumar | 7 |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 1.5 |
| Nitish Rana (Traded in) | 4.2 |
RELEASED PLAYERS (7 Players): The team management has released the following players before IPL 2026, as they didn’t fit into their scheme of things.
| Player | Price (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|
| Faf du Plessis | 2 |
| Jake Fraser-McGurk | 2 |
| Sediqullah Atal | Unsold |
| Manvanth Kumar | 30L |
| Darshan Nalkande | 30L |
| Donovan Ferreira (Traded out) | 1 |
| Mohit Sharma | 2.2 |
The next round of IPL 2026 auction will be an interesting event, with a few teams with big purses trying to fill the gaps, and other teams with reasonable amounts left will go for a last-ditch effort to make a strong combination.
With the T20 World Cup in 2026 to be co-hosted by India, the 2026 edition takes on an extra level of importance, with new stars on the horizon fighting for a place in their respective nations’ T20 teams. The challenge is not only to form a winning combination for each team, but it is also the zeal and focus that each player will be looking at to perform and stand out from the rest.
We await the next round of IPL 2026 auctions and find out the strong teams on paper as per the players being roped in and their background in this format of the game.
Delhi Capitals will be eager to form one of the most balanced teams and fulfill their dream of being at the top. The planning and execution remain the most important aspects in any such situation where the team wants the best combination. It will be worth watching and noting the progress in this regard while forming the new team for IPL 2026.
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