The Delhi Capitals entered the 2026 IPL mini auction with a purse value of over 21 crore INR, and finally managed to get some senior pros- something that was a major miss in the last season. Honestly, this time, DC was active but for their own good and hardly played with the other teams' purse except for once, when they entered late, went a long way but quit in the middle while bidding for Matheesha Pathirana.

 

One of the great buys for Delhi will be, no doubt, the Australian batter David Miller. Miller was an absolute steal for INR 2 crore, as DC grabbed him uncontested. Other three notable overseas buys of the season were Kyle Jamieson, Lungi Ngidi and Ben Duckett. However, they took the Jammu star Auqib Dar, with a massive INR 8.4 crore, marking one of the highest-paid uncapped players of the season.

 

Delhi Squad for 2026 IPL

 

SL No	Player's name	Role	Indian/Overseas	Price Tag
1	Axar Patel	All-rounder	Indian	16.50 Cr
2	KL Rahul	Batter	Indian	14 Cr
3	Kuldeep Yadav	Bowler	Indian	13.25 Cr
4	Mitchell Starc	Fast Bowler	Overseas (Australia)	11.75 Cr
5	T Natarajan	Fast Bowler	Indian	10.75 Cr
6	Tristan Stubbs	Batter	Overseas (South Africa)	10 Cr
7	Mukesh Kumar	Fast Bowler	Indian	8 Cr
8	Nitish Rana	All-rounder	Indian	4.2 Cr
9	Abishek Porel	Batter-Keeper	Indian	4 Cr
10	Ashutosh Sharma	All-rounder	Indian	3.8 Cr
11	Sameer Rizvi	Batter	Indian	95 L
12	Dushmantha Chameera	Fast Bowler	Overseas (Sri Lanka)	75 L
13	Vipraj Nigam	All-rounder	Indian	50 L
14	Karun Nair	Batter	Indian	50 L
15	Madhav Tiwari	All-rounder	Indian	40 L
16	Tripurana Vijay	Batter	Indian	30 L
17	Ajay Mandal	All-rounder	Indian	30 L
18	David Miller	Batter	Overseas (South Africa)	2 Cr
19	Ben Duckett	Batter	Overseas (England)	2 Cr
20	Auqib Dar	All-rounder	Indian	8.4 Cr
21	Pathum Nissanka	Batter	Overseas (Sri Lanka)	4 Cr
22	Prithvi Shaw	Batter	Indian	75 L
23	Sahil Parakh	Bowler	Indian	30 L
24	Kyle Jamieson	Fast Bowler	Overseas (New Zealand)	2 Cr
25	Lungi Ngidi	Fast Bowler	Overseas (South Africa)	2 Cr

 

Read also: IPL 2026: Full squads of 10 teams post Mini Auction

 

Probable Playing XI of Delhi Capitals for PL 2026

 

KL Rahul (wk),  Ben Duckett/Pathum Nissanka,  Nitish Rana,  Tristan Stubbs,  Axar Patel (capt), David Miller,  Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Auqib Nabi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan.

 

DC in 2026

 

The Axar Patel-led team may go with the given XI, as it will give a good balance of stability and controlled aggression at the top. KL Rahul offers reliability and game awareness, while either Ben Duckett or Pathum Nissanka can provide attacking momentum in the powerplay. Nitish Rana’s left-handed presence helps maintain balance and keeps the scoring rate steady through the middle overs.

 

The middle order gives DC their cutting edge. Tristan Stubbs and David Miller supply finishing firepower, while Axar Patel, leading the side, brings calm leadership along with valuable runs and overs. Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam further strengthen the lower middle order, ensuring batting depth till No. 8.

 

DC has been really smart tactically this season. If Auqib Nabi or T Natarajan go out of form, DC can shift to a stronger overseas pace option without weakening the batting by bringing in Karun Nair, Abishek Porel or Sameer Rizvi as per conditions.