Delhi Capitals, along with the Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, would hate having to go to this auction, as they were one of those few teams who never really needed to rebuild a core.
1. Prithvi Shaw
Young, aggressive and showing a lot of potential, Prithvi Shaw really prospered under the tutelage of Ricky Ponting in the last season.
With both age and talent on his side, especially as an Indian opener, he was a natural retention.
Alternatives: N/A as he was retained
(Photo by William West / AFP / Getty Images)
2. Faf du Plessis
With the departure of Shikhar Dhawan, who should be in heavy demand as an international-level Indian opener, only someone of Faf du Plessis’s experience and pedigree would substitute to retain that winning opening formula for the Delhi Capitals.
Faf du Plessis would also provide the best advice to Prithvi Shaw and other Delhi Capitals youngsters as the IPL moves forward.
Alternatives: David Warner and Aaron Finch
3. Manish Pandey
With the departure of Shreyas Iyer, the Delhi Capitals would be looking for an experienced top-order Indian batter and someone like Manish Pandey would absolutely fit the bill.
With the ability to accumulate and accelerate, Manish Pandey will be given more freedom at Delhi than at Hyderabad due to a stronger middle order.
Manish Pandey is still young enough to make it back into the Indian team and will do everything to maximise his utility in the IPL.
Alternatives: Ambati Rayudu and Robin Uthappa
4. Steve Smith (vice-captain)
The Delhi Capitals will be looking for a deputy after the departure of both Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer.
Steve Smith, who is already familiar with the Capitals’ set-up will definitely get more opportunities if he is selected back into the side.
He is also quite handy in certain situations in T20s, able to arrest batting collapses and even play explosively if he needs to.
Alternatives: Ajinkya Rahane and Joe Root
5. Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper) (captain)
Rishabh Pant needs no introduction as he has transformed himself into one of the more popular and quality players in international cricket.
The BCCI also has motivation to give him more leadership responsibilities and therefore, him being the de-facto captaincy choice was a given.
Alternatives: N/A as he was retained
(Photo by Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)
6. Sam Curran
Sam Curran proved to be a very important part of the Chennai set-up in the past couple of years, though he was hindered by injury that kept him out of the UAE this year.
While his services with the ball are important, someone like Ricky Ponting could also maximise his utility with the bat and nurture him into becoming a finisher for Delhi in the same way Marcus Stoinis managed to.
Alternatives: Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes
7. Axar Patel
Axar Patel has really transformed himself in one of the most premium spinners in the world, especially looking at his jaw-dropping Test numbers.
He is economical in the T20s and also wicket-taking. His retention was also perfectly understandable with a long career still ahead of him.
Alternatives: N/A as he was retained
8. Amit Mishra
Amit Mishra is quite rich when it comes the number of wickets and even number of hat tricks.
He has surprisingly played a low number of matches. But that was because of Ashwin.
Alternatives: Rahul Chahar and Mayank Markande
(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
9. Varun Aaron
There was a time when Varun Aaron was considered to the next big thing in Indian pace bowling before someone like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj would take that honour.
He was sidelined both due to injuries and poor form, but is still one of the faster domestic bowlers with more maturity along with age on his side.
Alternatives: Jaydev Unadkat and Thangarasu Natarajan
10. Umesh Yadav
Umesh Yadav has always been seen as a red-ball bowler and an expensive option for white-ball cricket, yet somehow it feels that he has still been underplayed in the format.
Umesh Yadav has improved and matured as a bowler. He can really provide very good starts with the new ball and with the abundnance of other bowlers, he does not even need to fill his quota.
He also has critical experience on Delhi pitches and can prove to be an asset for Delhi.
Alternatives: Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
11. Anrich Nortje
When Chris Woakes was injured, Anrich Nortje was selected to replace him and somehow even managed to surpass Kagiso Rabada to become a retention for the Delhi side.
One of the fastest bowlers on the international circuits, he was instrumental to Delhi’s march towards the finals in 2020 and the playoffs in 2021 with the ability to ball at any time or in any situation.
Alternatives: N/A as he was retained
