KL Rahul’s side will eye an opening batter, top overseas options like Jonny Bairstow and… News24 –

As the excitement for the IPL 2026 mini auctions looms among the fans to witness a high-intensity bidding battle. Having released Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk before the mini-auction, the Delhi Capitals will have to find a new opening partner for KL Rahul in IPL 2026. While age could be the reason behind the former RCB captain’s release, the Australian opener had a rather sub-par season in 2025. 

Though DC don’t have many options in terms of finding openers in the mini-auction, there are some players in the pool whom they can target. Ahead of the mini-auction, let’s take a look at some of the openers DC can eye. 

List Of 4 openers Delhi Capitals can acquire

Jonny Bairstow

England star wicketkeeper batter can be the target opener for DC as he has already proved his worth of being a dominating opener in IPL seasons. Bairstow has the experience, power-hitting skills, and adaptability that will give DC a strong start.

Even after not being the most consistent opener nowadays he still has the potential to win matches makes him a valuable option.

Rachin Ravindra

New Zealand’s star batter can be on the target list of DC as he has had a good taste of success in a few games representing CSK in the past.

The top season of his career was the one where he made his entrance into the IPL, 2024, and earned 222 runs in 10 games. In IPL 2025, he scored 191 runs in 8 games. He is no fiery opening bowler, as Conway is, but can hit his shots about the top of the order.

Jordan Cox

The English batter can be on the target list of DC as he has shown great consistency in the limited opportunities he has got till now in the IPL. Jordan Cox has shown to have a steady growth, proving that he can handle the pressure of being the opening batter and play aggressive strokes in the powerplay.

He might not be the most explosive opener available, but his reliability and clean hitting make him a decent option to go for Delhi.

Tim Seifert

The New Zealand star wicketkeeper-batter can be the player DC tries to acquire after him being released by RCB as Seifert has an incredible record as an opener in T20Is playing more than 1850 of the 1378 runs, when he has been first or second to bat.

Delhi Capitals Retained Players for IPL 2026

Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana (T), Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam.