Six Players That Delhi Capitals Should Retain: Delhi Capitals is a promising team. They have a wealth of young talent, Indian and foreign, both. While they have a lot of work to do in the upcoming auction, the Capitals have a solid core of players already in place.
Under the new IPL 2024 retention rules, teams can retain six players at most, five of whom can be capped. There is no limit to overseas retentions. There can also be two uncapped retained players. It should also be noted that if a team does not use up all of its retention slots, they can use Right To Match (RTM) for one of their players in the auction. This also means that multiple players in this list can instead be retained via RTM.
One of the teams to never have won the IPL, the Delhi-based franchise has the superstars that can lead the team to glory. It remains to be seen how they will perform without their long-time head coach, Rocky Ponting, who has moved to the Punjab Capitals.
Here are six players that Delhi Capitals should retain for IPL 2025.
Six Players That Delhi Capitals Should Retain
1) Rishabh Pant – 18 Crore
The Delhi Capitals cashed all their chips in for Rishabh Pant back in 2021, the year they named him captain over Shreyas Iyer. Since then, he has not disappointed them. Not only is he the best all-rounded middle-order batsman in the country and one of the best wicketkeepers in the world, but he has also been an excellent captain for his franchise.
In the three seasons, he has been the captain; he has finished fifth and sixth with underwhelming squads and finished first in 2021. The year he was out of the league following his car crash, the Capitals missed him as a player and as a captain, finishing ninth on the table.
Retaining Rishabh Pant is a no-brainer. Retaining him in the Rs. 18 crore bracket is a no-brainer. Pant is on the path to becoming the greatest player in the history of the Delhi Capitals.
2) Axar Patel – 14 Crore
One of the best all-rounders in world cricket showed just how big of a role he can play for a team with his performances in the 2024 T20 World Cup. While Axar was miffed about the Impact Player rule and how it affects all-rounders in the IPL, he is one of the few ones in the league to have maintained his consistency with the bat and the ball.
In the six seasons he has been with the Delhi Capitals, Patel has scored 967 runs and taken 62 wickets, making him one of the greatest players in franchise history.
Axar Patel is the kind of player that teams break auction records for. The ability to lock him in for a price like Rs. 14 crore is actually a fine deal for the Capitals.
Check Out: Six Players That Delhi Capitals Should Retain
3) Jake Fraser-McGurk – 11 Crore
The downside of thinking that Jake Fraser-McGurk can be bought via RTm is that his stock is at an all-time high after his 2024 IPL performances. So it would be almost impossible to get him for anything less than about Rs. 15 crore. In the most recent IPl season, Fraser-McGurk showed that he can win the team 3-4 matches a season on his own, which is more than enough for a player on any price tag.
Playing his first IPL season in 2024, the Aussie played only nine matches, in which he scored 330 runs at a league-high economy of 234. He has since proven that he isn’t a one-trick pony, performing for the Australian national team as well.
4) Kuldeep Yadav – 18 Crore
One of the very few quality wrist spinners in the IPL makes Kuldeep Yadav one of the most sought-after players in the league. In the past couple of years, Kuldeep has staked a claim at being the best wrist spinner in the world in limited-overs cricket. He has also been sensational for the Delhi Capitals, constantly in the race for the Purple Cap since 2022.
Yadav has also been vital for the national team in the past couple of years, overtaking Yuzi Chahal as the country’s premier wrist spinner.
5) Tristan Stubbs – 14 Crore
After a disappointing stint with the Mumbai Indians, Tristan Stubbs was signed by the Delhi Capitals for the 2024 season and showed why he is considered one of the best young batters in the world. The South African scored 378 runs for the team in 2024 with a striker rate of 190+.
Tristan has also been crucial for South Africa on the international level, being one of the team’s highlight players in the 2024 T20 World Cup as the Proteas reached the final.
Tristan Stubbs will most likely not be retained before the auction. In the auction, multiple teams will go after him. But at that point, the Capitals should pick him up via RTM.
6) Abhishek Porel (Uncapped) – 4 Crore
Abhishek Porel was brought in as a replacement for an injured Rishabh Pant in 2023, but he did not get consistent playing time for the Delhi Capitals till 2024, at which point he shined.
The wicketkeeper-batter scored 327 runs in IPL 2024 with a strike rate of about 160. He is one of the most promising uncapped players on the DC roster who has also been doing well in the Duleep Trophy, a tournament in which several Indian Cricket Team players are playing.
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