Delhi Capitals are set to retain four players before the mega auctions next year.
As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, Delhi Capitals will retain four players. They are wicket-keeper and batter Rishbah Pant, spinner Axar Patel, overseas pacer from South Africa Anrich Nortje and dashing opener Prithvi Shaw.
Pant captained DC in IPL 2021 and led them to the playoffs stage. It appears from this report that DC will continue to have faith in Pant as captain.
The big names that are not in list are: Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, R Ashwin and Kagiso Rabada.
As per the same news report, Shreyas Iyer himself decided to opt out of the retained players list as he wants to throw himself into the auctions again
Not to forget, Pant replaced Iyer as captain of the team after the right-hand batter was ruled out of the competition due to shoulder injury. But even when he returned to take part in the second phase of the tournament, he did not get the captaincy back and Pant continued as skipper. DC reached the playoffs of IPL 2021.
Iyer had taken over the DC captaincy from Gautam Gambhir midway through IPL 2018.
With this move, Iyer can gain great bucks at the auction with at least five teams - all looking for captains - fighting to get him. The more the fight for a player, the more the price. That's what IPL bidding does.
Iyer made his Test debut on 25 November in Kanpur against New Zealand and smashed a fifty as well to take India to a commanding position at the end of first day.