In the last few IPL seasons, Delhi Capitals have proved to be a tough nut to crack for their opponents. The 2022 edition was going well for them, but they fell slightly short in the playoff race and finished 5th on the points table.
Their top order showed some great substance, but the middle order wasn’t up to the mark. Also, their bowling lineup didn’t get settled in the whole tournament. The Delhi Capitals squad in 2022 wasn’t too bad, but it lacked in a few areas. This time around, DC will try to iron out little kinks in their armor.
Let’s know how the Delhi Capitals team is changing from last year and which players they have retained and released.
Delhi Capitals Squad 2022
Under the leadership of Rishabh Pant, Delhi capitals went with a relatively young squad for the IPL 2022. Their youngsters showed glimpses of talent, but their inexperience proved costly for the franchise.
Here’s the complete squad that Delhi Capitals had in the 2022 season:
Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Tim Seifert, Prithvi Shah, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Shardul Thakur, Ashwin Hebbar, Srikar Bharat, Mandeep Singh, Ripal Patel.
While looking at this squad, you can easily say that the batting lineup has several match-winners, and the side is capable of chasing down any target. It did happen for them as the likes of Warner, Shaw, Marsh, and Powell came to the party for DC.
However, the bowling doesn’t look threatening and is short on both experience and venom. That’s why none of Delhi’s bowlers, apart from Kuldeep Yadav, was able to get his name amongst the top 15 wicket-takers in IPL 2022. If they had a better bowling lineup, the results might have been different for them.
Delhi Capitals Retained Players for IPL 2023
Although Delhi Capitals did not finish their previous IPL where they wanted, they still have shown faith in that team. DC has retained 19 of their 24 players in the previous year’s squad.
Underlying is the list of all the Delhi Capitals 2023 retained players:
Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal
Of these 19 retentions, 13 are of local players, and the remaining 6 are overseas players.
Delhi Capitals Released Players for IPL 2023
They didn’t release too many players as most of the guys from the Delhi Capitals squad 2022 were retained. The Delhi-based franchise released 5 players to make room in their squad and have a decent purse remaining for the auction.
Those 5 players are:
Shardul Thakur, Tim Seifert, Ashwin Hebbar, Srikar Bharat, Mandeep Singh.
The most notable exclusion is of Shardul Thakur, who was bought for 10.75 crore INR in the IPL 2022 mega auction. But he failed to live up to the expectations, and DC has gotten rid of him now. Srikar Bharat was paid 2 crores for the previous season.
Mandeep Singh has been playing in the IPL for several years and has represented different franchises. Last year, DC bought him for 1.1 crore INR, but now he is no longer in their plans. The other two releases – Tim Siefert and Ashwin Hebbar – were roped in for 50 lakh and 20 lakh INR, respectively.
Players Traded by Delhi Capitals
The only trade move by DC was a significant one, as Shardul Thakur went to KKR, and the Capitals got Aman Khan as his replacement. Aman is a right-arm medium pacer who comes from Mumbai.
Final Delhi Capitals Squad before the Auctions
Delhi has got more than a decent squad, and they have players who are proven match-winners in this format. Let’s take a brief look at the Delhi Capitals squad breakdown:
Batsmen: Rishabh Pant (wk), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, and Yash Dhull.
All-Rounders: Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, and Vicky Ostwal.
Bowlers: Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Chetan Sakariya, and Praveen Dubey.
Delhi Capitals Predicted Playing XI
Considering Delhi Capitals’ 2023 team squad now, we expect them to field the following playing XI:
- David Warner
- Prithvi Shaw
- Mitchell Marsh
- Rishabh Pant (c&wk)
- Sarfaraz Khan
- Rovman Powell
- Axar Patel
- Khaleel Ahmed
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Anrich Nortje
- Chetan Sakariya
David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, and Anrich Nortje are quite certain to occupy 3 of the 4 overseas slots in DC’s playing XI. But Lungi Ngidi, Rovman Powell, and Mustafizur Rahman will fight hard for the fourth overseas slot.
Players Delhi Capitals Will Target in the Mini-Auction
Delhi Capitals have two overseas slots and a 19.45 crore purse remaining for the mini-auction. As they already have three top-notch foreign pacers in their squad, DC will look to bring in one or two reliable middle-order batters on the two slots available. Ben Stokes and Sam Curran could be the two red-hot options for them.
Also, they don’t have much experience in their local pace bowling lineup. Hence, Delhi will be eyeing to buy at least a couple of dependable Indian pacers on their side. Moreover, getting a local batsman who can feature for them at #6 or #7 will be gold dust for them.
Here are some of the players they must target:
- Ben Stokes
- Sam Curran
- Jaydev Unadkat
- Basil Thampi
- Dominic Drakes
- Ankit Rajpoot
- Sandeep Sharma
- Shivam Mavi