Delhi Capitals will kick off their IPL 2025 campaign on March 24 against Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam. Here's what their squad looks like, compared to last season.
Since topping the league table in the 2021 IPL season, Delhi Capitals had a difficult time in the most recent cycle of the league. They finished fifth in 2022 and ninth in 2023 before becoming one of four teams locked on 14 points in 2024 – meaning they missed out on playoffs qualification due to net run rate.
The long wait for a title for the Delhi franchise continues, being one of three franchises from the inaugural IPL season yet to lift the IPL trophy. Once again, they go into 2025 hoping this will be their year.
As of March 13, 2025, nine days ahead of the start of IPL 2025, DC are yet to announce their new captain after Rishabh Pant was not retained and his subsequent move to Lucknow Super Giants made him the IPL's most expensive player ever.
DC squad 2025: Who's out?
Ahead of the mega-auction, DC chose to retain just four players, releasing the other 24 on their books – including three replacement players in Lizaad Williams, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Gulbadin Naib, who themselves had been signed in place of Harry Brook, Lungi Ngidi and Mitchell Marsh respectively.
From their list of released players, DC managed to re-sign Fraser-McGurk and Brook, although the latter has pulled out of the IPL for the second season in a row. They also re-secured the signature of Mukesh Kumar in the auction.
Players released by DC ahead of IPL 2025: Rishabh Pant, Pravin Dubey, David Warner*, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje*, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh*, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Gulbadin Naib*, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson*, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope*, Swastik Chhikara, Lizaad Williams*, Harry Brook*, Lungi Ngidi*.
*= overseas player
DC squad 2025: Who's in?
DC's most expensive signing at the player auction was India wicketkeeper KL Rahul for INR 14 crore. Left-arm quicks Mitchell Starc from Australia and T Natarajan from India were their next-biggest buys.
Also read: IPL 2025: Injured Indian pace sensation set to miss first half of season
They also brought in uncapped batters Ashutosh Sharma and Sameer Rizvi, as well as experienced South African batter Faf du Plessis. Du Plessis and Rahul were both IPL captains last year, of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants respectively.
Karun Nair, who has been in stunning form this domestic season, will embark on his second spell with the franchise after 2016-17.
Players signed by DC ahead of IPL 2025: Ashutosh Sharma, Faf du Plessis*, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ajay Mandal, Madhav Tiwari, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Donovan Ferreira*, KL Rahul, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera*, Mitchell Starc*, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam.
DC squad for IPL 2025: Full player list
Ashutosh Sharma, Faf du Plessis*, Jake Fraser-McGurk*, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ajay Mandal, Axar Patel, Madhav Tiwari, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Abishek Porel, Donovan Ferreira*, KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs*, Darshan Nalkande, Dushmantha Chameera*, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc*, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam.
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