Delhi Capitals team 2023: Delhi will arrive at the IPL 2023 auction with a budget of INR 19.45 crore. They can buy up to five cricketers, of whom at most two can be overseas.

Delhi have two excellent spinners in Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, while Anrich Nortje, along with one of Lungi Ngidi and Mustafizur Rahman, form an excellent pace duo, with Chetan Sakariya ready to step up if they cannot afford to have two overseas pacers. With the bat, Prithvi Shaw and David Warner are followed by Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Marsh, Rovman Powell, and Sarfaraz Khan.

Ahead of this season’s auctions, they traded Shardul Thakur with the Kolkata Knight Riders for Aman Khan, and released KS Bharat, Mandeep Singh, Tim Seifert, and Ashwin Hebbar.

Delhi Capitals team 2023

Strengths

The openers, Warner and Shaw, both struck at over 150 in the 2022 IPL. Down the order, so did Pant, while Powell finished with 149.7. Few IPL teams boasts of such batting firepower, while Aman has been a superb acquisition.

The bowling attack, as mentioned, has both depth and variations: left-arm pace, right-arm pace, finger-spin, wrist-spin, leaving the right-hander, coming into them – they have it all.

Weaknesses

If Delhi play two of their three overseas fast bowlers, they cannot pick all three of Warner, Powell, and Marsh, which offsets the team balance from time to time. Their Indian contingency is long, but is it deep enough? They have to back on Lalit Yadav or Sarfaraz or Aman or Khaleel Ahmed or Kamlesh Nagarkoti or Yash Dhull stepping up.

The other problem they face is the lack of a back-up spinner. Vicky Ostwal is a gifted left-arm spinner, but these are still early days for him.

Likely buys

Given Marsh’s form, Delhi need an overseas all-rounder who can bat inside the top three and – if needed – bowl. Since they have the budget, who better than Ben Stokes or Cam Green – or, if they need a spinner, Shakib Al Hasan?

They will also want a backup spinner, ideally Indian, so they may opt for one or more of Piyush Chawla, Mayank Markande, and Shahbaz Nadeem. In the unlikely event of them opting for an overseas spinner, Keshav Maharaj is a decent option.

Delhi Capitals squad ahead of IPL auction 2023

Overseas players underlined

Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Marsh, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Rovman Powell, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Yash Dhull, Aman Khan, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal, Sarfaraz Khan.

Delhi Capitals team 2023 purse: INR 19.45 crore. Slots remaining: Five (two overseas)