3 players Delhi Capitals will target in IPL 2026 auction
Delhi Capitals have a purse of INR 21.8 crore remaining with them, with as many as eight slots remaining. Delhi Capitals retained just three overseas players and their auction strategy will be built around the foreigners, including an opening partner for KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc's backup.
Delhi Capitals will be heading into the IPL auction with a handsome purse of Rs 21.8 crore. The Capitals, who missed out on a spot in the playoffs last year, retained most of their core, headlined by KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma and Sameer Rizvi and have a total of eight slots to fill in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16.
Capitals have five overseas slots remaining. If they are looking to fill all of them, they could look at them this way: an opening keeper-batter, a pace-bowling all-rounder, a backup pacer, a middle-order batter and another top-order batter, who can bowl, someone like Matt Short.
Hence, the first potential target for Delhi will be an opening wicketkeeper-batter, having released both Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Someone like Quinton de Kock or Tim Seifert, both of whom have represented the franchise before, could be the team’s potential targets. Both are proven T20 stars and will add value in more than one department.
Having released Mohit Sharma and Darshan Nalkande, the Capitals will be on the lookout for an Indian seamer. While Auqib Nabi, the in-form Jammu and Kashmir pacer, will be a potential target, there are also options among local boy Simarjeet Singh, Rajasthan quick Ashok Sharma or even a Kartik Tyagi. Mitchell Starc will lead the pace attack for the Capitals, with Mukesh Kumar and T Natarajan for support.
Who else?
The overseas department is screaming for the presence of someone like Jason Holder for the Capitals. In its best years, the Delhi side had a Chris Morris to look after pace bowling and be able to hit big shots in the end, Holder, who is the leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket in 2025, fits the mould outstandingly. If the Capitals are also on the lookout for Starc’s backup, Gerald Coetzee, Will O’Rourke, Naveen ul Haq, and Lungi Ngidi are some of the options.
Among the finishers, there are options of David Miller, Cooper Connolly and Bevon Jacobs available, if the Delhi Capitals want to charter that territory. The Capitals traded Donovan Ferreira, which still doesn't feel like a great decision, but they did get Nitish Rana, an experienced Indian left-hand batter, who is also a captaincy option and a magnificent hitter.
Delhi Capitals have a decent purse and the ownership is known for raising the bids of players for other teams. Will they get what they want? It will be interesting to see.