IPL Auction 2025 Review: Delhi Capitals's squad has balance, back-up options but who will be the captain?

Where will Rishabh Pant go? Will he return to the Delhi Capitals (DC), where he has been during his entire IPL career? Will the Capitals successfully use their RTM on him? Will he want to come back after not being retained? These were the questions surrounding DC and their auction plans. In the end, almost all of them were answered in the negative.

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Pant, after a historic to-and-fro, ultimately hopped over to the Lucknow Super Giants for a fee that was beyond the Capitals’ reach. The money they could not spend there, though, was invested exquisitely and it won’t be a stretch to say the Capitals had the best auction of them all.

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Dilli - we're ready for IPL 2025! 💙 pic.twitter.com/H8H1kew2Jq

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) November 25, 2024

IPL Auction 2025 |    Complete list of sold and unsold players from two-day mega auction

KL Rahul, obviously, was their most high-profile buy. Faf du Plessis was at the other end of that spectrum, being snapped up for his base price after remaining unsold initially.

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KL x DC era begins 💙 pic.twitter.com/L1hpxxuUfq

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) November 27, 2024

The RTM was used for Jake Fraser-McGurk and Mukesh Kumar, with two excellent left-arm seamers (Mitchell Starc and T Natarajan) also arriving. Starc’s purchase, in particular, seemed a bargain, considering the sum he fetched last year. Oh, and Harry Brook, who has a magnificent T20 record, was also procured for Rs 6.25 crore.

DC 2025 Squad: Biggest strength

Balance and strength in depth. The players they bought gives the think-tank numerous ways to mould the team, perhaps even adopting a horses-for-courses policy. And even if they do not do so, they have a bunch of cricketers who can be successful across conditions.

This shines through in their bowling attack, which comprises of two gun left-arm pacers, a versatile right-arm seamer in Mukesh, a world-class left-arm wrist-spinner in Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, who can bowl and be effective in different phases.

They have back-ups in place too. If injury issues were to beset Starc, Dushmantha Chameera can slot in. If they need another death-bowling option, in case Natarajan cannot play each game, they have Darshan Nalkande and Mohit Sharma.

This flows into the batting department as well. If Fraser-McGurk is unable to tee off like he did in 2024, du Plessis is a readymade replacement, who also has a penchant of coming up clutch when required. Karun Nair gives them an experienced Indian batting alternative and has been in brilliant form for Vidarbha in domestic cricket.

That Brook and Stubbs - two youngsters with sky-high potential – have not even been mentioned, is enough to illustrate how good DC are looking.

MI 2025 Squad: Biggest weakness

There aren’t many. But DC will have to appoint a new captain. Whether it be Axar, Rahul or a slightly more left-field option in du Plessis. Whenever that happens, there is a risk of a transition period, a slightly sluggish start and of treading too many paths before eventually stumbling upon the right one.

DC do not have a proven Indian finisher either but with Brook and Stubbs around, plus the ball-striking Ashutosh showed last year and the potential Sameer Rizvi brings, not to mention Axar’s enhanced reputation, this might qualify as nit-picking.

DC at auction: What could they have done differently?

Very few teams ever come out of an auction thinking everything went to plan. DC might fall into that bracket. All of their purchases seemed fairly priced, given the mayhem that ensued elsewhere, and they have checked the first box of being a successful team by having a savvy auction.

DC: Early IPL 2025 prediction

The Delhi-based franchise has historically been an under-achiever in the IPL. But they have done everything they could have at the auction table to alter that narrative. DC also have a few big-match players in their squad - notably du Plessis and Starc - who could, through their performance and persona, thrust them into the top four and towards ultimate glory.

DC: Probable playing XI/XII

KL Rahul, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Sameer Rizvi/Mohit Sharma.

IPL Auction 2025: Players purchased by DC

Mitchell Starc (Rs 11.75 crore), KL Rahul (Rs 14 crore), Harry Brook (Rs 6.25 crore), Jake Fraser-McGurk (Rs 9 crore via RTM), T Natarajan (Rs 10.75 crore), Karun Nair (Rs 50 lakh), Sameer Rizvi (Rs 95 lakh), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 3.80 crore), Mohit Sharma (Rs 2.20 crore), Faf du Plessis (Rs 2 crore), Mukesh Kumar (Rs 8 crore via RTM), Darshan Nalkande (Rs 30 lakh), Vipraj Nigam (Rs 50 lakh), Dushmantha Chameera (Rs 75 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (Rs 75 lakh), Ajay Jadav Mandal (Rs 30 lakh). Manvath Kumar (Rs 30 lakh, Tripurana Vijay (Rs 30 lakh), Madhav Tiwari (Rs 40 lakh)

DC full squad for IPL 2025 

KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, Harry Brook, Jake Fraser-McGurk, T Natarajan, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abhishek Porel, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Mukesh Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvath Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari.