With just five days remaining for IPL auction 2026, it is almost certain that teams must have figured out their strategies. DC under Axar Patel were good in the last season, but just could not finish well towards the latter half of the tournament. Coming into the auction, they should have their goals set — to get match-winners in every department — batting, bowling and even fielding. So, InsideSport takes a look at their potential plan for IPL auction 2026.
DC retention list for IPL 2026
| Player | IPL 2026 Retained Price |
|---|---|
| Tristan Stubbs | 10 crore |
| Sameer Rizvi | 95 lakh |
| Karun Nair | 50 lakh |
| KL Rahul | 14.00 crore |
| Abhishek Porel | 4 crore |
| Axar Patel | 16.50 crore |
| Ashutosh Sharma | 3.80 crore |
| Vipraj Nigam | 50 lakh |
| Madhav Tiwari | 40 lakh |
| Tripurana Vijay | 30 lakh |
| Ajay Mandal | 30 lakh |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 13.25 crore |
| Mitchell Starc | 11.75 crore |
| T Natarajan | 10.75 crore |
| Mukesh Kumar | 8 crore |
| Dushmanta Chameera | 75 lakh |
| Nitish Rana | 4.2 crore (T) |
Delhi Capitals release list
Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Manvanth Kumar, Sediqullah Atal, Donovan Ferreira (Traded out)
Purse & slots for IPL auction 2026
DC have an overall purse of INR 21.80 Cr left, and can buy a maximum of eight players. Five of them can be overseas, so they can go in for a wide range of players.
DC strategy
With eight slots to go and a little over 20 Cr in the bank, DC could find themselves in a tough spot, where they feel, they could go for some big names, but others might just race ahead. So, they need to be clear about the players they seek, and the roles they fit in. Again, with the budget they have, they cannot afford to overspend on 1-2 players.
| Specialisation | Player |
|---|---|
| Experienced overseas batter | David Miller/ Rachin Ravindra/ Steve Smith |
| Overseas opener | Devon Conway/ Matthew Short/ Kusal Mendis |
| Experienced Indian pacer | Umesh Yadav/ Navdeep Saini |
| All-rounders | Deepak Hooda/ Mahipal Lomror/ Vijay Shankar/ Michael Bracewell |
