DPL 2026 auction ignores several DDCA T20 League performers

New Delhi: While the hullaballoo post the Delhi Premier League (DPL) 2026 auction that was held on Wednesday (July 1) has been around Delhi players from other states returning to partake of the T20 franchise league, not much has been talked about the performers in DDCA League who have missed out.

Dipesh Balyan (490 runs in 11 games, 15th in run-getters' list), Prikshit (23 wickets in 11 games, 7th in wickettakers' list) and Pankaj (29 wickets in 11 games, 1st in wickettakers' list) are just three of the players who performed in the DDCA T20 League earlier this year, but have not been picked by any franchise in the auction. Instead there are several players who have got a contract without any performance.

While it is true that some top performers in the league like Ravinder Bhandari (24 wickets in 10 matches) are too old and operate in the lower divisions of the league as they represent institutions like State Bank of India (SBI), there are several players like the ones mentioned above who play in Premier divisions and have still been ignored.

Each franchise in the DPL (Men's) needed to pick at least 20 and at the most 25 players.

"Every franchise will pick 15-18 players who are worthy of playing. But beyond that, they will pick players of their own choice. In most cases, they are not good enough as compared to those who have missed out. These players could come in at the request of sponsors, investors because franchise needs to take care of their expenses too," said an official associated with the DDCA.

"They are private franchises and their team selection cannot be directed by the DDCA. We cannot hold them accountable for not picking players only on performance in the league," added the official.

Besides the Rs 8-9 crore the investor puts in the franchise annually, they have to take care of other expenses like hotel, players' salaries among other expenses. The total annual expense comes around to roughly Rs 11-12 crore per franchise.

The return is not as much. Each franchise got only Rs 1.5 crore from the DDCA for DPL in the inaugural edition in 2024. The DDCA earned a profit of Rs 5.37 crore in the inaugural edition. It should be noted that some teams are yet to pay salaries to the staff and players for the 2025 edition.

The DPL Season 3 will run from July 31 to August 30, featuring eight teams like last year.

List of players from top 10 of and wickettakers' list from DDCA T20 League 2025-26 season (Feb 18-May 10) who failed to find a buyer in DPL auction:

Pankaj (Kishan Ganj Gymkhana) -- 29 wickets in 11 matches (1st in wickettakers' list) -- Premier 3 division

Shivank Vashisth (PMG) -- 25 wickets in 10 matches (2nd in wickettakers' list) -- Premier 1

Ravinder Bhandari (SBI) -- 24 wickets in 10 matches (3rd in wickettakers' list) -- Elite 2

Ansh Chaudhary (Paragon CC) -- 24 wickets in 11 matches (4th in wickettakers' list) -- Super Elite 2

Prikshit (Madras CC) -- 23 wickets in 11 matches (7th in wickettakers' list) -- Premier 1

Arnav Gambhir (Kranti Star CC) -- 21 wickets in 11 matches (8th in wickettakers' list) -- Super Elite 3

Abhinav (RCN) -- 21 wickets in 11 matches (9th in wickettakers' list) -- Elite 1

List of players from top 20 of rungetters' list from DDCA T20 League 2025-26 season (Feb 18-May 10) who failed to find a buyer in DPL auction:

Harsh Bhati (Kailash Nagar Colts) -- 579 runs in 11 matches (3rd in rungetters' list) -- Super Elite 3

Ankit Pratap Singh (Collage Sports) -- 558 runs in 11 matches (4th in rungetters' list) -- Premier 3

Vishant Bhati (Gemini CC) -- 519 runs in 11 matches (8th in rungetters' list) -- Premier 1

Nikhil Chandel (Rajinder Nagar Colts) -- 492 runs in 11 matches (14th in rungetters' list) -- Super Elite 2

Dipesh Balyan (LB Shastri CC) -- 490 runs in 11 matches (15th in rungetters' list) -- Premier 2

Shresth P Yadav (Rohtak Road Gymkhana) -- 487 runs in nine matches (16th in rungetters' list) -- Super Elite 1

Nitin Rai (Mata Ved Solanki CC) -- 478 in 10 matches (18th in rungetters' list) -- Elite 2

Tags : Delhi Premier League, Cricket, DDCA, T20, franchise, DPL