Delhi Capitals release 11 players; Mustafizur, Rossouw among them: Analysis
What's the story
The Indian Premier League 2024 auction will be held on December 19 in Dubai. Ahead of that, all 10 teams have announced their player retention list.
Delhi Capitals have released as many as 11 players, which includes four foreign stars.
They have released many domestic talents as well, who didn't perform well for them in recent years.
Here are further details.
Released players
Players released by Delhi Capitals
List of released players by Delhi Capitals: Rilee Rossouw, Chetan Sakariya, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Phil Salt, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, and Priyam Garg.
The Capitals have been involved in no trade deals til now. The IPL trade window is however open till seven days prior to the auction on December 19.
Retained players
Here is the list of players retained by Delhi Capitals
List of players retained by Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Lungi Ngidi, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, and Mukesh Kumar.
They have a remaining purse of Rs. 28.95 crore, while four foreign slots and nine positions in total are empty heading into the action.
Rishabh Pant
Will Rishabh Pant captain Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024?
Pant missed out on IPL 2023 as he was recovering from the freak car accident that occurred in December 2022.
DC's Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly feels that the wicket-keeper batter will be ready to feature in IPL 2024 and will also lead the side.
In Pant's absence, David Warner led the Capitals last season.
Anrich Nortje
DC retained Nortje despite his injury concerns
South African pacer Anrich Nortje missed the 2023 ODI World Cup due to a lower back injury.
He has been marred with incessant injuries in the past. He claimed 10 wickets from as many matches in IPL 2023.
Nortje's best season was in 2020, when he scalped 22 wickets.
He has played only 24 matches across three seasons, scalping 31 IPL wickets ever since.
Highlights
A look at the highlights
Despite his success for SRH, Mustafizur failed to live up to the billing and was released by DC.
Similarly, Sarfaraz and Rossouw also didn't make the necessary impact to convince the franchise.
The likes of Garg and Aman did show some glimpses, but those weren't enough. Meanwhile, Nagarkoti's injury meant that he missed the entirety of the 2023 season.
Requirements
What do DC need?
DC will look to spend wisely, given their purse. But their primary requirement will be to strengthen the lower-middle order.
They may look at Indian finishers as well, with players like Shahrukh Khan available in the market.
They will also look for a pacer like Gerald Coetzee, who can provide backup for Nortje.
Another wicket-keeping option will also be handy, given Pant's situation.