IPL Retention: Delhi Capitals decide against retaining Rishabh Pant ahead of mega auction, says report

Delhi Capitals (DC) have reportedly decided not to retain Rishabh Pant ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction slated to be held later this year. According to a report in the Times of India, Delhi Capitals have decided their player retentions but that does not include the skipper, who had made his competitive return after almost two years during IPL 2024.

Kuldeep, Axar among players retained: Report

Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs are among the players who have been retained, the report adds.

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DC, however, could consider activating the Right to Match (RTM) card option. “Rishabh Pant wanted captaincy, wanted to be involved with regards to appointment of coaches and support staff but plenty in the DC set-up are not convinced about his T20 game. It wasn’t that they wanted to let him go, but they were clear that they didn’t see him leading the side. And that decision wasn’t an overnight one,” a source aware of the developments was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

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Axar Patel might lead DC, but Shreyas Iyer on their radar 

The report goes on to say that while Axar Patel is an option for captaincy, Shreyas Iyer will be on the franchise’s radar at the auction. Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third IPL title earlier this year, may reportedly not be retained.

“Axar Patel is there as an option but there is a strong possibility of DC exploring options at the mega auction. Plenty of captaincy options are set to enter the mega auction so wait and watch is going to be the right way forward for DC. Shreyas Iyer will definitely be on their radar, as he enjoyed a lot of success in the DC setup and understands the set-up and understands setup well. A very exciting set of players have been retained and a solid squad can be built around these names,” the source added.

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Iyer captained DC for three seasons, from 2018 to 2020. He led the franchise to the final in 2020, where they lost to Mumbai Indians (MI). Iyer led DC in 41 matches during this period, with DC winning 21 matches. DC had a win percentage of 51.21 with Iyer as their skipper.

Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals journey

Rishabh Pant has been an integral part of the Delhi Capitals franchise since making his IPL debut in 2016. He made his IPL debut on 27 April, 2016 against the now defunct Gujarat Lions in Delhi, where he scored 20 runs off 17 balls. Pant enjoyed his breakthrough IPL season in 2018, when he scored 684 runs from 14 matches at a strike-rate of 173.60. He hit his first, and only IPL century so far, against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) that year.

IPL Mega Auction 2022 History:  Which players were retained? Will they be retained again?

Rishabh Pant led DC for the first time in 2021, when then skipper Shreyas Iyer had suffered a shoulder injury in the first half of the season. Although Iyer returned for the second half of the season in the UAE later that year, Pant retained the captaincy.

Pant captained the franchise again in 2022, but missed the 2023 season as he continued his recovery from injuries he had sustained during a horrific car accident in December 2022. David Warner led DC in 2023 but the team finished ninth out of 10 teams.

Pant returned to DC ahead of the 2024 season and took over as captain again. He scored 446 runs from 13 matches, including three fifties. DC, however, failed to qualify for the playoffs after they finished in sixth place with 14 points.