Captain Axar, KL Rahul & Tristan Stubbs headline Delhi Capitals’ retentions for IPL 2026

New Delhi, 15 November 2025: The JSW and GMR co-owned Delhi Capitals today announced their list of retained and released players ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction, set to take place later this year. The Delhi-based franchise has retained a total of 17 players.

Following comprehensive evaluations and discussions, Delhi Capitals have decided to release Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Sediqullah Atal, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Manvanth Kumar and Darshan Nalkande ahead of the upcoming season.

The players retained by the franchise from their last season’s fifth-place finish include Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc and Tristan Stubbs among others. Delhi Capitals have also roped in Nitish Rana in a trade for Donovan Ferreira, who moves to Rajasthan Royals ahead of the auction.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Chairman and Co-Owner, Delhi Capitals, said, “We had a promising campaign last season, the team showed great quality and spirit, even though we narrowly missed out on the playoffs. The auction gives us an opportunity to strengthen the areas where we fell short and build a more balanced squad around the players we have retained. Our coaching team and scouting network have worked extensively to identify the right talent to add to the group. My best wishes to all the players as we gear up for an exciting auction.”

Mr Parth Jindal, Co-owner, Delhi Capitals and Founder, JSW Sports added, "We are pleased with the players we’ve retained – we saw how well they performed together especially in the first half of last season. Our coaches and scouts have been working tirelessly to identify those players who can complement our core group. We’re looking forward to the auction and building a strong team for the season ahead.”

Hemang Badani, Head Coach, Delhi Capitals expressed, “Last season had its highs and lows, we played some really good cricket but fell just short of a playoff spot. We know the areas that need strengthening, and the auction will allow us to make those fine adjustments around the group we have retained. The goal is to build consistency and ensure we’re competing at our best throughout the season.”

List of Retained Players:

Axar Patel

KL Rahul

Karun Nair

Abishek Porel

Tristan Stubbs

Sameer Rizvi

Ashutosh Sharma

Vipraj Nigam

Ajay Mandal

Tripurana Vijay

Madhav Tiwari

Mitchell Starc

T Natarajan

Mukesh Kumar

Dushmantha Chameera

Kuldeep Yadav

Nitish Rana (traded in)

Released Players

Mohit Sharma

Faf du Plessis

Sediqullah Atal

Jake Fraser-McGurk

Manvanth Kumar

Darshan Nalkande

Donovan Ferreira (traded out)

About DELHI CAPITALS

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