Delhi Capitals have managed to assemble a strong unit following the IPL 2026 auction, having released 7 players. Apart from retaining their core, DC also managed to get some steal deals at the mini-auction, including getting David Miller for Rs 2 crore, Ben Duckett for Rs 2 crore, Prithvi Shaw for Rs 75 lakh, Nitish Rana via trade among other players. Ahead of IPL 2026, let’s take a look at DC’s strongest playing XI.
DC strongest XI for IPL 2026
| Position | Player | Role |
| 1. | KL Rahul | Opener / Wicketkeeper |
| 2. | Prithvi Shaw | Opener |
| 3. | Nitish Rana | Batter |
| 4. | Abhishek Porel | Batter |
| 5. | Tristan Stubbs | Batter |
| 6. | Axar Patel (C) | All-rounder |
| 7. | Ashutosh Sharma | All-rounder |
| 8. | Vipraj Nigam | All-rounder |
| 9. | Kuldeep Yadav | Spinner |
| 10. | Mitchell Starc | Fast-bowler |
| 11. | Dushmanta Chameer | Fast-bowler |
DC will need a new opening partner for Rahul after releasing du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk. They have two options – Shaw and Duckett – and are mostly going to go with the former, who has been a part of the team previously. Rana, who was traded from RR, is likely to replace Karun Nair as the new number three batter and is bound to excel in that role since he tasted success while doing so for RR in IPL 2025.
It will be interesting to see how DC will fit Rs 2 crore buy David Miller in the playing XI, given that they wouldn’t want to leave out Ashutosh or Vipraj from the playing XI. In that case, they would have to consider deploying them as an impact player option. Else, it makes sense only if they leave Miller out of the XI altogether.
In the bowling department, Chameera could very well partner Starc in the pace battery while the other options are T Natarajan and Kyle Jamieson.
DC squad for IPL 2026
Nitish Rana (traded in from RR), Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mukesh Kumar, David Miller (2 Cr), Ben Duckett (2 Cr), Auqib Nabi (8.4 Cr), Pathum Nissanka (4 Cr), Lungi Ngidi (2 Cr), Sahil Parikh (30 L), Prithvi Shaw (75 L), Kyle Jamieson (2 Cr).
