In a huge development of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Delhi Capitals (DC) is set to part ways with their captain and wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant from the 2025 season of the tournament. The left-handed batter won’t feature in the team from the next edition, as they are looking forward to bringing freshness to their brand of the game.
Since making his debut in the league in 2016, the Uttarakhand-born has been part of the DC family for seven seasons, where he has smashed 3284 runs in 110 innings at an average of over 35 and a strike rate of nearly 150 with the help of 18 half-centuries and one century at a best score of unbeaten 128 runs.
The IPL Governing Council (GC) released the rules of the retentions where each franchise was allowed to keep six of their players from the previous season, with the division of five capped and one uncapped player, in a wishful split of retention or the right-to-match (RTM) card.
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Since the new GMR management of the DC franchise, a call new call is expected to take on their captain, who nailed 446 runs in 13 innings at an average of over 40 and a strike rate of more than 155 with the help of three half-centuries at a best score of unbeaten 88 runs. A month ago, they also parted ways with their former head coach, Ricky Ponting, who later joined the Punjab Kings set-up.
DC keeps Abhishek Porel as an uncapped player; Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as capped Indians
The leadership of Pant made numerous discussions among the management of the Capitals, who were open to retaining the local batter as a player but as the leader of the franchise. With a few franchises in the mega auction looking forward to hiring a new captain in the form of Punjab Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders, it was a known fact that the 27-year-old would be moving there.
“Rishabh Pant wanted captaincy, wanted to be involved with regards to the appointment of coaches and support staff, but plenty in the DC set-up are not convinced about his T20 game. It wasn’t that they wanted to let him go, but they were clear that they didn’t see him leading the side. And that decision wasn’t an overnight one.” The reports have claimed.
That has led the DC side to keep Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as the two capped Indian players. The former smashed 253 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of over 130 with two half-centuries, besides picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of under eight in IPL 2024. Kuldeep bagged 16 scalps at an economy of 8.65 in the last season.
In the case of the other retentions, the Delhi side is going with Tristian Stubbs and Jake Fraser-McGurk. The South African middle-order batter drilled 378 runs at a strike rate of over 190, while JFM took the event by storm, punching 330 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of over 230.
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In the uncapped player department, the DC franchise is keeping the uncapped Bengal player, Abhishek Porel, for the new season. He could become the future star of the team, but now they need to find their new captain in the mega auction.
“Axar Patel is there as an option (for leadership), but there is a strong possibility of DC exploring options at the mega auction. Plenty of captaincy options are set to enter the mega auction, so, wait and watch, is going to be the right forward. Shreyas Iyer will be on their radar.” The reports informed.
