Delhi Capitals have a promising bunch of youngsters whom the franchise shouldn’t hesitate to retain for IPL 2026. From the likes of Vipraj Nigam to the ever-ferocious Tristan Stubbs, the side has the right balance of experience and youth, and will possibly not be aiming to tinker much in terms of releases before the mini-auction. Axar Patel and co. finished 6th on the points table in IPL 2025, throwing their chance of making it to the playoffs out of the window by choking in the 2nd half of the tournament.
November 15 is the deadline for the teams to decide on their retentions before the IPL 2026 mini-auction. The auction will be held later in December, with the venue and date yet to be confirmed. Ahead of the deadline, let’s take a look at 5 youngsters that DC must retain for IPL 2026.
5 youngsters DC should retain for IPL 2026
1. Abhishek Porel
The West Bengal star was arguably one of DC’s best and consistent batters in IPL 2025. Having made his IPL debut in 2023 with the team, the 23-year-old has gone on to clock over 300 runs in two consecutive seasons, emerging as one of DC’s most reliable batters. In 2025, Porel amassed 301 runs from 13 matches, including one half-century.
2. Tristan Stubbs
Another batter who has emerged as DC’s Mr. Dependable in the middle-order is the South African star. He has grown leaps and bounds after moving to DC from MI in 2024 and has managed to amass 300+ runs in consecutive seasons. Although is best season came in 2024 where he scored 378 runs, he managed to score 300 runs from 14 matches in IPL 2025, averaging 50, having struck 25 fours and 11 sixes.
3. Vipraj Nigam
The all-rounder was indeed the best find for DC in IPL 2025, as he proved to be a most-valuable player. In 14 games, Nigam took 11 wickets and scored 142 runs, emerging as the second fiddle to captain Axar Patel. The 21-year-old is indeed the future number 1 all-rounder for DC and it would be a no-brainer for the team to retain him before the IPL 2026 auction.
4. Sameer Rizvi
Making his move from CSK to DC in IPL 2025, young Rizvi would have liked to have gotten more opportunities. However, he featured only in 4 matches and managed to amass 63 runs. However, the promising UP batter could come of good use to DC, especially in the middle-order where he could also ace the role of a finisher with ease.
5. Ashutosh Sharma
After creating waves with his big-hitting ability for PBKS in 2024, Sharma moved to DC in IPL 2025. His season only got better as he finished with 204 runs from 9 innings, maintaining a strike rate of 160.62 with one fifty to his name.
