This article will discuss how Delhi Capital fared in the Indian Premier League auction.

Delhi Capitals have always been a smart player at the auction table with knowledge of both local and international players.

Unfortunately, the franchise has yet to win a Title, though they have come very close to winning the coveted title both under Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.

The Delhi Capitals have always created an envious squad every year but unfortunately failed to gel as a unit compared to other teams.

This year too, Delhi Capitals had a great mega auction. Before the Mega Auction, in the retention stage, the biggest surprise was to see Rishabh Pant absent.

List of Retained Players

• Axar Patel: ₹16.50 crore
• Kuldeep Yadav:  ₹13.25 crore
• Tristan Stubbs:  ₹10 crore
• Abhishek Porel: ₹4 crore

Tristan Stubbs in our view is the most improved international player since his days in the Mumbai Indians. Retaining Stubbs was also a smart move.

Another smart move was to have a balance of 73 crores post the retain window which was the third highest among the 10 franchises.

With Rishab Pant not on the radar, it was clear that Delhi Capitals were on the lookout for a captain.

Delhi Capitals got KL Rahul and Harry Brook and sealed their opening batting slot.

By acquiring Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav, Delhi Capitals, they ensured there is enough fire power at the top with the bowling too.

The auction for Delhi revolved around having a mix of experience and young Indian domestic talent with the future in mind.

The lack of Indian all-rounders could probably restrict their bench quality as compared to other teams.

A total of 19 players were purchased in the 2-day auction.

Here’s the list of all the players bought in the Mega Auction in Jeddah for the Delhi Capitals Camp.

Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc (Rs. 11.75 crore), KL Rahul (Rs. 14 crore), Harry Brook (Rs. 6.25 crore), Jake Fraser-McGurk (Rs. 9 crore), T. Natarajan (Rs. 10.75 crore), Karun Nair (Rs. 50 lakh), Sameer Rizvi (Rs. 95 lakh), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs. 3.80 crore), Mohit Sharma (Rs. 2.20 crore), Faf du Plessis (Rs. 2 crore), Mukesh Kumar (Rs. 8 crore), Darshan Nalkande (Rs. 30 lakh), Vipraj Nigam (Rs. 50 lakh), Dushmantha Chameera (Rs. 75 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (Rs. 75 lakh), Ajay Mandal (Rs. 30 lakh), Manvanth Kumar (Rs. 30 lakh), Tripurana Vijay (Rs. 30 lakh), Madhav Tiwari (Rs. 40 lakh).

Let’s review their Purchases

Hits

• KL Rahul an Indian International and a potential captain material strengthens the batting top order at a steal price.
• Investing in Harry Brook and Tristan Stubbs shows Delhi Capitals is looking at them in their long-term plans.
• Strong bowling attack has a lot of variety with Mitchel Starc leading the pace pack and Axar Patel Leading the spin attack.
• Have one of the best death bowling attacks to take care of overs 15-20

Misses

• Lack of Indian all-rounders is a glaring point in the Delhi Capitals auction this year.
• Captaincy is not yet decided, which can lead to cluttered team game plans.
• 5 players in the playing eleven have relatively very limited IPL experience and a huge gamble is being played by the franchise.
• Rishabh Pant missing from the team will hurt Delhi Capitals as his bubbly nature behind the stumps lifted the team and kept everyone in good spirits.
• Lack of overseas backup in case of injury.

Delhi Capitals Probable XI for IPL 2025:

• KL Rahul
• Faf du Plessis/Jake Fraser-McGurk
• Abhishek Porel (wk)
• Harry Brook
• Tristan Stubbs
• Ashutosh Sharma
• Axar Patel
• Kuldeep Yadav
• Mukesh Kumar
• Mitchell Starc
• T Natarajan

Sameer Rizvi(IP) 

Player to look out for

• Indian Player – Axar Patel

• Foreign Player – Tristan Stubbs

Super Sports View and IPL Predictions

With their squad, SuperSports predicts Delhi Capitals to be one of the most destructive bowling units in the IPL 2025 season. While they lack experience in the batting department the flat track of Delhi might need a superior bowling unit which they possess. This would help them upset few big teams during the group stage.

Fans would want Delhi to be in the top 4 in the table but with so many well-balanced team this year, they will have to do something special to be in the playoffs stage.

We give the squad 7/10