New Delhi: Delhi Capitals is one of only three franchises in the history of the Indian Premier League to have not won the title. The 2020 edition was the closest the Capitals came to clinching the IPL trophy, but the Mumbai Indians broke the Delhi hearts by winning the final to claim their fifth title.
The 2025 edition looked promising for Delhi, at least at the start, when the franchise under the new leadership of Axar Patel won its first four games and rose to the top of the table.
However, the second half of the season turned out to be completely opposite for the Delhi-based team, with just one win in the last five completed matches. The decline in form after the strong start cost DC dearly as they missed out on the playoffs by a whisker and finished fifth with 15 points, just one less than fourth-placed Mumbai Indians.
With two-time T20 World Cup winner Axar at the helm, the Capitals would aim to avoid the mistakes of last season in the IPL 2026, which begins on March 28 with the blockbuster clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru.
While peaking early in the season will be crucial for Delhi, carrying their momentum all the way through will be more important for the team in their bid to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, when Rishabh Pant led the side to the top of the table.
The Capitals will open their campaign against their former captain Pant’s side, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
With new signings like Auqib Dar, David Miller, Pathum Nissanka, and Lungi Ngidi, among others, DC will be hoping to make a big mark on the 19th edition of the IPL.
Delhi Capitals full squad for IPL 2026
Wicketkeepers: KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel.
Batters: Pathum Nissanka, David Miller, Prithvi Shaw, Sahil Parakh, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana
All-rounders: Axar Patel (c), Vipraj Nigam, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Ajay Mandal, Auqib Nabi
Fast bowlers: Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan
Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav
Delhi Capitals predicted XI for IPL 2026
KL Rahul (wk), Abishek Porel, Nitish Rana, David Miller, Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi.
Overseas players likely to feature in playing XI – David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Starc and Lungi Ngidi