The 2026 season was Delhi Capitals' nineteenth appearance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They were one of the ten cricket teams that competed in the 2026 IPL. The team was captained by Axar Patel and coached by Hemang Badani.
Delhi Capitals were the fourth team to be eliminated from the 2026 IPL and finished the season in sixth place with seven wins from 14 matches. KL Rahul scored the most runs (593) while Lungi Ngidi took the most wickets (13) for Delhi in the 2026 season.
Pre-season
The 2026 Indian Premier League was the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league held in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Delhi Capitals are one of the three active franchises to not have won the IPL title yet. The team finished in fifth place in the previous season. The tournament featured ten teams competing in 74 matches from 28 March to 31 May 2026. Delhi played all their home matches at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Player retention Franchises were allowed to retain any number of players from their squad, including traded players while excluding players signed as temporary replacements. Franchises were required to submit their retention lists before 15 November 2025. Delhi retained seventeen players, including captain Axar Patel. Delhi also traded Donovan Ferreira to Rajasthan Royals in return for Nitish Rana.
+ Retained players Domestic Overseas Mukesh Kumar Ajay Mandal Karun Nair T. Natarajan Vipraj Nigam Axar Patel Abhishek Porel KL Rahul Nitish Rana Sameer Rizvi Ashutosh Sharma Madhav Tiwari Tripurana Vijay Kuldeep Yadav Dushmantha Chameera Mitchell Starc Tristan Stubbs + Released players Batters Wicket-keepers All-rounders Bowlers Sediqullah Atal Harry Brook Faf du Plessis Jake Fraser-McGurk Donovan Ferreira Manvanth Kumar Darshan Nalkande Mustafizur Rahman Mohit Sharma
Auction The season's auction took place on 16 December 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The auction purse for each franchise was set at , with franchises being deducted an amount from the purse for every retained player. Delhi had a purse remaining of . Delhi bought eight players in the auction, including six capped players and five overseas players.
+ Auctioned players Domestic Overseas Capped Uncapped Capped Uncapped Prithvi Shaw Auqib Nabi Sahil Parekh David Miller Ben Duckett Pathum Nissanka Kyle Jamieson Lungi Ngidi
Squad Players with international caps as of start of 2026 IPL are listed in bold. Ages are as of . Withdrawn players are indicated by a dagger symbol () and placed at the bottom of the table.
+ Delhi Capitals squad for the 2026 Indian Premier League Name Nationality Birth date Batting style Bowling style Salary Notes 1 KL Rahul Right-handed Right-arm medium 7 Sameer Rizvi Right-handed Right arm off-break 10 David Miller Left-handed Right-arm off break Overseas 20 Axar Patel Left-handed Left-arm orthodox Captain 22 Lungi Ngidi Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas 23 Kuldeep Yadav Left-handed Left-arm wrist spin 24 Abhishek Porel Left-handed 28 Vipraj Nigam Right-handed Right-arm legbreak 30 Tristan Stubbs Right-handed Overseas 36 Nitish Rana Left-handed Right-arm off break 49 Mukesh Kumar Right-handed Right-arm medium 50 Tripurana Vijay Right-handed Right arm off-break 56 Mitchell Starc Left-handed Left-arm fast Overseas 77 Ashutosh Sharma Right-handed Rehan Ahmed Right-handed Right-arm leg break Overseas; replacement Dushmantha Chameera Right-handed Right-arm fast Overseas Kyle Jamieson Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas Ajay Mandal Left-handed Left-arm orthodox Pathum Nissanka Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Overseas Auqib Nabi Right-handed Right arm medium Karun Nair Right-handed Right-arm off break T. Natarajan Left-handed Left-arm medium Sahil Parakh Left-handed Left-arm leg-break Prithvi Shaw Right-handed Right-handed off-break Madhav Tiwari Right-handed Right arm medium Ben Duckett Left-handed Right-arm off break Overseas; withdrawn
Support staff Ian Bell replaced Matthew Mott as an assistant coach.
Position Name Head coach Hemang Badani Assistant coach Ian Bell Bowling coach Munaf Patel Source: News18
League stage Delhi Capitals began their season with two wins against Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians. They lost their next two matches to Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings but won against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. They lost their next three matches to Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Bengaluru; won against Rajasthan and lost the next two to Chennai and Kolkata Knight Riders. They won their last three matches of the season against Punjab, Rajasthan and Kolkata to finish the league stage at the sixth place with fourteen points and were the fourth team to be eliminated.
Points table
League progression
Fixtures
Statistics + Most runs Runs Player 593 KL Rahul 278 Pathum Nissanka 275 Tristan Stubbs 252 Sameer Rizvi 225 Nitish Rana + Most wickets Wickets Player 13 Lungi Ngidi 11 Axar Patel Mitchell Starc 10 Kuldeep Yadav 6 Mukesh Kumar
References
External links
Delhi Capitals at IPLT20.com