IPL 2025: Rishabh Pant among Delhi Capitals' retained trio, shocking head coach candidate revealed

India National Cricket Team star wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been finalized as one of the three players who will be retained by the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.

Recently, the Indian Premier League (IPL) announced the new player retention rules, and as per the regulations, each franchise has been allowed to retain a maximum of 6 players using direct retention and the Right to Match (RTM) options.

Notably, the governing body has not set any limit on the number of local and overseas players that a franchise can retain. However, the teams have been allowed a maximum of five capped players and a maximum of two uncapped players.

Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, And Kuldeep Yadav To Be Delhi Capitals' Top 3 Retentions

As per a report in PTI, Delhi Capitals will not use all their retentions as they have decided to retain just three players. The first player in the list is Rishabh Pant, who will get INR 18 crore, while Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav will be the next two retentions, and they will bag INR 14 crore and INR 11 crore.

As DC will be using just three retentions, they will head into the auction with more RTMs, which they can use to bring back the likes of Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Marsh, Harry Brook, and Jake Fraser-McGurk. Reportedly, Fraser-McGurk and Stubbs are two players for whom DC will be using RTMs.

Hemang Badani Could Become New Delhi Capitals Head Coach, Munaf Patel To Become Bowling Coach

As per the same report, former India player Hemang Badani is the front-runner to become the new head coach of Delhi Capitals, and Munaf Patel could take over the bowling coach duties.

"DC management is looking at quality home-grown coaches and Hemang and Munaf's names have cropped up. A final decision is yet to be taken but in case of Munaf, it could be bowling coach's job," an IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Notably, Delhi Capitals recently sacked Ricky Ponting as head coach after they failed to win a title during his long tenure.

Meanwhile, the reason behind the Delhi Capitals opting for an Indian coach in Badani could be due to the change of management for the next two years where GMR will be running the franchise as in the previous two seasons JSW led the charge.

Delhi Capitals' Performance In IPL Over The Years

Delhi Capitals have been one of the most underperforming teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since the league's inception in 2008. In their first season, they made a mark by reaching the knockouts. Their journey was a great one in 2009 as they topped the league table, but lost against the Deccan Chargers in the knockouts.

However, the next few years were challenging for the franchise. They faced inconsistency, finishing poorly in 2010 and 2011. The team managed to regroup in 2012, securing another playoffs berth. Yet, the 2013 season marked a significant decline, as they ended at the bottom of the table.

Meanwhile, the next few years were awful for the side as Delhi Capitals failed to secure a spot in the playoffs in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

A resurgence occurred in 2019 when they made it to the playoffs, and in 2020, they achieved their best performance ever in the history of the league by reaching the final. The Shreyas Iyer-led side had a great chance to clinch the title but they lost to the Mumbai Indians.

They followed that success with another playoffs appearance in 2021. However, in the last three years, they haven't done well. Delhi Capitals finished outside the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. And in the 2024 season, they ended up in 6th place.