Former India player Aakash Chopra has suggested that the Delhi Capitals (DC) will need to buy another player for their middle order during the IPL 2026 auction as well. He added that during the 2025 season, KL Rahul struggled in the middle order as well.
Speaking in a YouTube video, Aakash Chopra said: “You will need another player in the middle order. Of course, there is Stubbs there, but you will need a proper middle-order batter because KL Rahul is not performing in the middle order. Ultimately, you ended up making him open anyway. Karun Nair, Rizvi, or Ashutosh Sharma, these players can only serve as twists and options. They can only be companions to Stubbs; they have not been able to work shoulder to shoulder. So you need another middle-order batter, and for that, you will need to release some money. You can do that, the options are available to you.”
“This is also a team that can go towards Cameron Green, and if anywhere Heinrich Klaasen gets released and comes in, then this team can also go towards Henrich Klaasen. It’s not necessary that you have to do the keeping with Porel or KL Rahul. Just do it with Klaasen, on that ground, that will be outstanding. It will be a lot of fun. They could have a lot of money,” he shared.
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“They need to settle their opening because they haven’t been able to settle it so far. In the last tournament, I think they made the most changes in terms of openers. We saw Abhishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Jake Fraser, Faf du Plessis. It felt like, if there’s anyone left, just play them as an opener as well. So all the rotation they had with so many openers needs to be stopped. They don’t want to keep the musical chairs and revolving door system. If you want to settle the opening, you will need money for that. And the money will be available to you if you release so many players. That was one important aspect, so at least you get your batting order sorted,” he again said.
However, Aakash Chopra also said that the Delhi Capitals might need to buy some Indian pace bowlers during the IPL 2026 auction if they decide to release Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, and T. Natarajan as well.
“If you release Mohit, Mukesh, and T. Natarajan, you will have to buy some Indian bowlers. That means you will need a bit more fast bowling because your spin department is already very strong. You have Kuldeep, Axar, Vipraj Nigam, your spin contingent is outstanding. So everything is fine there. But in fast bowling, with Dushmantha Chameera and Mitchell Starc, you need a bit more. You had kept Mustafizur Rahman, you can keep him or release him. And if you want to buy someone else, that option will remain available to you,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
