There were some speculations about Rishabh Pant that had been circulating in the media for quite some time. The current T20 World Cup-winning wicketkeeper-batter should be released by his franchise – a few rumours quickly turned into verdicts on social media platforms. At last, that speculation became a reality yesterday. The Delhi Capitals Franchise has released its retention list for IPL 2025 with a shocking move. They are not retaining their previous season captain, Rishabh Pant. Delhi management just opting to retain only four players for the upcoming season. The franchise has confirmed the retention of Abhishek Porel, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Looking at the stats, Rishabh Pant stands as the highest run-scorer for Delhi Capitals, amassing 3,284 runs across 111 matches. So the question is why was the franchise not able to retain such a champion player? According to some reports, when Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Pointing were removed as coaches from the franchise, Rishabh tried to force his influence in selecting the new coach. That’s why this matter turned into a conflict between the star player and the management of the franchise. Besides this, A few months ago, Pant hinted at entering the auction through a tweet, initially dismissed as humour. Day by day the situation began to take a negative turn. As a result, the franchise made a bold move; they released Pant for auction.

Yesterday Delhi Capitals released their retention list on various social media platforms. They have retained Axar Patel for ₹16.5 crore, Kuldeep Yadav for ₹13.25 crore, Tristan Stubbs for ₹10 crore, and Abhishek Porel for ₹4 crore. Besides Rishabh, they have also released experienced bowlers like Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, and Mukesh Kumar for Auctions. With a purse cap of ₹120 crore for each franchise, Delhi has spent ₹43.75 crore on these four players, leaving them with ₹76.25 crore for the IPL 2025 mega auction.

After releasing Pant from the franchise, the supporters started questioning who Would be the new captain of the Delhi Capitals. After Pant, Axar Patel is considered a strong candidate for captaincy. He has experience of captaining the Gujarat Side in the domestic cricket. According to some media reports, Delhi might look to bring back their former captain Shreyash Iyer from Kolkata. In the IPL 2025 auction, Delhi Capitals are set to buy between 18 and 20 players, with IPL guidelines allowing for a roster of 20 to 25 players.