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Delhi Capitals (DC) on October 6 announced former India captain Sourav Ganguly as their new head coach ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2027 mini-auction later this year. Ganguly has been charged with the responsibility of helping DC win their maiden IPL title. Before Ganguly’s appointment and mini-auction, DC have already completed a high-profile trade. They have brought back Rishabh Pant who spent two seasons at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as captain. While Pant wanted a top-order role at LSG, he couldn’t and struggled throughout the season. Months ahead of the next edition, Ganguly has clarity of Pant’s batting position and it won’t be in the top order.
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"We needed a middle-order batter and Pant fits it perfectly. He was with us and he played well for us. Next year, when he turns up again, I think he'll use the time and space and the matches to become a better player," Ganguly said in a video posted by Delhi Capitals on their official YouTube channel.
"You know he enjoys batting at the Feroz Shah Kotla (Arun Jaitley Stadium) in Delhi and hopefully we'll see the best of Pant in the years to come for the Delhi shirt," Ganguly added.
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DC already have an established opener in KL Rahul who has been impressive for them in last two seasons. His strike rate has considerably improved as well. DC were ditched by Ben Duckett and Pathum Nissanka opened for him. They tried Sahil Parakh and Abishek Porel as openers too, benching Prithvi Shaw for the entire season. But, they couldn’t get consistent results. They may go hunting for a new opener in the mini-auction.
Despite the presence of Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, captain Axar Patel and Sameer Rizvi and Nitish Rana in the side, the team management will fix either no.4 or no.5 for Pant, a familiar batting position for him in DC jersey.
Pant’s IPL numbers for DC and LSG
Pant's is DC's all-time highest run-scorer. He has scored 3,284 runs at an average of 35.31 at an average of 35.31 at a strike rate of nearly 149. He has a ton and 18 fifties for DC.
The wicketkeeper-batter had a lacklustre run with the bat as LSG captain. He could not justify the Rs 27 crore price tag and scored 581 runs from 26 innings at an average of 26.40 and strike rate of 135.74. He scored a ton and just two fifties for LSG.
IPL 2027 crucial for Pant’s white-ball career
Ahead of the IPL 2027, Pant has a point to prove. He took a Rs 12 crore price tag when he came back to DC. He has not been getting plenty opportunities in white-ball cricket. The 27-year-old hasn't played a T20I since July 2024 and will aim for a good run in 2027 edition. He is likely to get the help of another legendary Indian cricket, Yuvraj Singh, who is expected to join DC coaching staff as batting coach.
Is Ganguly convinced Starc will play entire season?
Ganguly believes DC are a good team despite not making it to playoffs in the last five seasons. He almost confirmed that Lungi Ngidi, Miller, Stubbs and Mitchell Starc will be retained.
"It's a good team with KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, it's a pretty strong team and I hope we play to our potential and I hope everyone understands how good they are and goes and expresses themselves," he said.
"Motivation is to take Delhi to the top. In 2019 and 2020, Delhi was a very good team. I was involved in making the team but then I left and became BCCI president. So from that point of view that motivation will always remain to take that squad to a different level.
"I think that's what I will be looking out for from the players because there's enormous talent in the dressing room.”
But, the question is whether Starc will make himself available for the entire season. The left-arm pacer has often said that Test cricket is the pinnacle for him. The IPL 2027 will be closely followed by World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 final. Australia are at the top of the WTC standings and likely to qualify for the final for third consecutive time. It would leave a very short window between the IPL 2027 and the WTC final. Also, it is an ODI World Cup 2027 year along with Ashes on English soil. The Aussie pacer’s availability will be a big question mark considering his workload.
What will be on Ganguly’s agenda?
Ganguly would be looking to fix the chinks in DC’s bowling lineup. Auqib Nabi Dar and Mukesh Kumar were not impressive as they leaked plenty of runs. Nabi was wicketless in five outings whereas Mukesh blew hot and cold with six wickets from 10 games. Combined, they amount to Rs 16.40 crore. In addition, DC will need a specialist spinner to fill the spot left vacant by Kuldeep’s exit. Also, they may let go of Sri Lanka pacer Dushmantha Chameera and England leg-spin-bowling all-rounder Rehan Ahmed who was picked up as replacement of his English teammate Ben Duckett.
DC have got a good coaching staff with the addition of Amit Mishra as spin-bowling coach and former Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas as fast-bowling coach. Yuvraj may make a few recommendations for the middle order or opener role. If Starc decides to skip the IPL 2027 or make himself partially available, they would want an express pacer to fill in the role.
The picture will be clear soon as the deadline to announce list of released and retained players is November 15.
Delhi Capitals’ squad after Pant-Kuldeep trade -
KL Rahul (wk), Sahil Parakh, Axar Patel (c), Rishabh Pant. Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Madhav Tiwari, Abishek Porel, Tripurana Vijay, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Ashutosh Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Vipraj Nigam, Prithvi Shaw, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana, Kyle Jamieson, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Pathum Nissanka, Auqib Nabi Dar, Rehan Ahmed.
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