# 2021 Delhi Capitals season

Delhi Capitals are a Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Delhi, India. The team competed in the 2021 Indian Premier League. Founded in 2008 as the Delhi Daredevils, the franchise is owned by the GMR Group and the JSW Group. The team's home ground is Arun Jaitley Stadium, located in New Delhi.

## Background
### Player retention and transfers

The Delhi Capitals retained 18 players and released seven players.
Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes.
Released Players: Harshal Patel, Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Daniel Sams.
Added Players: Steve Smith, Manimaran Siddharth, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Lukman Meriwala, Vishnu Vinod, Ripal Patel, Sam Billings
Supportive Players : Aniruddha Joshi, Shams Mulani

## Squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Year signed | Salary | Notes |
| Batsmen |||||||||
| 42 | Shikhar Dhawan | India | (1985-12-05) 5 December 1985 (age 39) | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | 2019 | ₹5.2 crore (US$600,000) | Vice Captain |
| 82 | Aniruddha Joshi | India | (1987-11-07) 7 November 1987 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | Short-term replacement for Shreyas Iyer |
| 3 | Ajinkya Rahane | India | (1988-06-05) 5 June 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2020 | ₹4 crore (US$462,000) | |
| 49 | Steve Smith | Australia | (1989-06-02) 2 June 1989 (age 35) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg-spin | 2021 | ₹2.2 crore (US$250,000) | Overseas Captain |
| 41 | Shreyas Iyer | India | (1994-12-06) 6 December 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | | 2018 | ₹7 crore (US$810,000) | |
| 28 | Ripal Patel | India | (1995-09-28) 28 September 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 189 | Shimron Hetmyer | Guyana | (1996-12-26) 26 December 1996 (age 28) | Left-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2020 | ₹7.75 crore (US$900,000) | Overseas |
| 100 | Prithvi Shaw | India | (1999-11-09) 9 November 1999 (age 25) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2018 | ₹1.2 crore (US$140,000) | |
| All-rounders |||||||||
| 23 | Ravichandran Ashwin | India | (1986-09-17) 17 September 1986 (age 38) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2020 | ₹7.6 crore (US$880,000) | |
| 19 | Chris Woakes | England | (1989-03-02) 2 March 1989 (age 35) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2020 | ₹1.5 crore (US$170,000) | Overseas; Pulled out due to bubble fatigue |
| 21 | Marcus Stoinis | Australia | (1989-08-16) 16 August 1989 (age 35) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | 2020 | ₹4.8 crore (US$550,000) | Overseas; Calf Injury |
| 20 | Axar Patel | India | (1994-01-20) 20 January 1994 (age 31) | Left-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2019 | ₹5 crore (US$580,000) | |
| 59 | Tom Curran | England | (1995-03-12) 12 March 1995 (age 29) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2021 | ₹5.25 crore (US$610,000) | Overseas |
| 16 | Lalit Yadav | India | (1997-01-03) 3 January 1997 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | 2020 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| — | Shams Mulani | India | (1997-03-13) 13 March 1997 (age 27) | Left-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | Short-term replacement for Axar Patel |
| Wicket-keepers |||||||||
| 7 | Sam Billings | England | (1991-06-15) 15 June 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | | 2021 | ₹2 crore (US$230,000) | Overseas |
| 4 | Vishnu Vinod | India | (1993-12-02) 2 December 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 17 | Rishabh Pant | India | (1997-10-04) 4 October 1997 (age 27) | Left-handed | | 2018 | ₹15 crore (US$1.7 million) | |
| Spin Bowlers |||||||||
| 99 | Amit Mishra | India | (1982-11-24) 24 November 1982 (age 42) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2018 | ₹4 crore (US$460,000) | |
| 46 | Pravin Dubey | India | (1993-07-01) 1 July 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | 2020 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 30 | Manimaran Siddharth | India | (1998-07-03) 3 July 1998 (age 26) | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| Pace Bowlers |||||||||
| 10 | Umesh Yadav | India | (1987-10-25) 25 October 1987 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2021 | ₹1 crore (US$120,000) | |
| 97 | Ishant Sharma | India | (1988-09-02) 2 September 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2020 | ₹1.1 crore (US$130,000) | |
| 18 | Lukman Meriwala | India | (1991-12-11) 11 December 1991 (age 33) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| N/A | Kulwant Khejroliya | India | (1992-03-13) 13 March 1992 (age 32) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | 2021 | ₹20 lakh (US$23,000) | |
| 02 | Anrich Nortje | South Africa | (1993-11-16) 16 November 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | 2020 | ₹50 lakh (US$58,000) | Overseas |
| N/A | Ben Dwarshuis | Australia | (1994-06-23) 23 June 1994 (age 30) | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | 2021 | ₹30 lakh (US$35,000) | Overseas |
| 25 | Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | (1995-05-25) 25 May 1995 (age 29) | Left-handed | Right-arm fast | 2018 | ₹4.2 crore (US$490,000) | Overseas |
| 6 | Avesh Khan | India | (1996-12-13) 13 December 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | 2018 | ₹70 lakh (US$81,000) | |
| Source:DC Players |||||||||

## Administration and support staff

| Position | Name |
| Owner | Kiran Kumar Grandhi (GMR Group), Parth Jindal (JSW Group) |
| CEO | Vinod Bisht |
| Team manager | Siddharth Bhasin |
| Head coach | Ricky Ponting |
| Batting coach | Pravin Amre |
| Bowling coach | James Hopes |
| Fielding coach | Mohammad Kaif |
| Assistant coach | Ajay Ratra |
| Physiotherapist | Patrick Farhart |
| Strength and conditioning coach | Rajinikanth Sivagnanam |
| Team doctor | Dr. Rizwan Khan |
| Source:DC Staff ||

## Teams and standings
### Results by match

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Result | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | L |
| Position | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | |
| 1 | Delhi Capitals (3rd) | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0.481 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 2 | Chennai Super Kings (C) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.455 | Advanced to Qualifier 1 |
| 3 | Royal Challengers Bangalore (4th) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | −0.140 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 4 | Kolkata Knight Riders (R) | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.587 | Advanced to the Eliminator |
| 5 | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.116 | |
| 6 | Punjab Kings | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | −0.001 | |
| 7 | Rajasthan Royals | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10 | −0.993 | |
| 8 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 6 | −0.545 | |

## League stage

The full schedule was published on the IPL website on 7 March 2021.

### Matches

* Match 2 10 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 188/7 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 190/3 (18.4 overs) |
| Suresh Raina 54 (36) Chris Woakes 2/18 (3 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 85 (54) Shardul Thakur 2/53 (3.4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 7 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 7 15 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 147/8 (20 overs) | v | Rajasthan Royals 150/7 (19.4 overs) |
| Rishabh Pant 51 (32) Jaydev Unadkat 3/15 (4 overs) | | David Miller 62 (43) Avesh Khan 3/32 (4 overs) |
* Rajasthan Royals won by 3 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Sundaram Ravi (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: Jaydev Unadkat (Rajasthan Royals)
* Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 11 18 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 195/4 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 198/4 (18.2 overs) |
| Mayank Agarwal 69 (36) Lukman Meriwala 1/32 (3 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 92 (49) Jhye Richardson 2/41 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 6 wickets Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Paul Reiffel (Aus) Player of the match: Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 13 20 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Mumbai Indians 137/9 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 138/4 (19.1 overs) |
| Rohit Sharma 44 (30) Amit Mishra 4/24 (4 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 45 (42) Kieron Pollard 1/9 (1.1 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 6 wickets M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Chettithody Shamshuddin (Ind) Player of the match: Amit Mishra (Delhi Capitals)
* Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 20 25 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 159/4 (20 overs) | v | Sunrisers Hyderabad 159/7 (20 overs) |
| Prithvi Shaw 53 (39) Siddarth Kaul 2/31 (4 overs) | | Kane Williamson 66* (51) Avesh Khan 3/34 (4 overs) |
* Match tied (Delhi Capitals won the Super Over) M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Chris Gaffaney (NZ) Player of the match: Prithvi Shaw (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bat.
* Super Over: Sunrisers Hyderabad 7/0 (1 over), Delhi Capitals 8/0 (1 over)
* Match 22 27 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/5 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 170/4 (20 overs) |
| AB de Villiers 75* (42) Avesh Khan 1/24 (4 overs) | | Rishabh Pant 58* (48) Harshal Patel 2/37 (4 overs) |
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 1 run Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Sundaram Ravi (Ind) and Virender Sharma (Ind) Player of the match: AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore) became the sixth player, and the second overseas one, to score 5,000 runs in the IPL.
* Match 25 29 April 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Kolkata Knight Riders 154/6 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 156/3 (16.3 overs) |
| Andre Russell 45* (27) Lalit Yadav 2/13 (3 overs) | | Prithvi Shaw 82 (41) Pat Cummins 3/24 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 7 wickets Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Yeshwant Barde (Ind) and Anil Chaudhary (Ind) Player of the match: Prithvi Shaw (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 29 2 May 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Punjab Kings 166/6 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 167/3 (17.4 overs) |
| Mayank Agarwal 99* (58) Kagiso Rabada 3/36 (4 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 69* (47) Harpreet Brar 1/19 (3 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 7 wickets Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Anil Dandekar (Ind) Player of the match: Mayank Agarwal (Punjab Kings)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 33 22 September 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Sunrisers Hyderabad 134/9 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 139/2 (17.5 overs) |
| Abdul Samad 28 (21) Kagiso Rabada 3/37 (4 overs) | | Shreyas Iyer 47* (41) Rashid Khan 1/26 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 8 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Richard Illingworth (Eng) Player of the match: Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals)
* Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match 36 25 September 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 154/6 (20 overs) | v | Rajasthan Royals 121/6 (20 overs) |
| Shreyas Iyer 43 (32) Mustafizur Rahman 2/22 (4 overs) | | Sanju Samson 70* (53) Anrich Nortje 2/18 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 33 runs Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Ulhas Gandhe (Ind) Player of the match: Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Capitals)
* Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 41 28 September 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 127/9 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 130/7 (18.2 overs) |
| Steve Smith 39 (34) Lockie Ferguson 2/10 (2 overs) | | Nitish Rana 36* (27) Avesh Khan 3/13 (3 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 3 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Saiyed Khalid (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 46 2 October 2021 15:30 (D/N) Scorecard
| Mumbai Indians 129/8 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 132/6 (19.1 overs) |
| Suryakumar Yadav 33 (26) Avesh Khan 3/15 (4 overs) | | Shreyas Iyer 33* (33) Krunal Pandya 1/18 (2.1 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 4 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Michael Gough (Eng) Player of the match: Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 50 4 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Chennai Super Kings 136/5 (20 overs) | v | Delhi Capitals 139/7 (19.4 overs) |
| Ambati Rayudu 55* (55) Axar Patel 2/18 (4 overs) | | Shikhar Dhawan 39 (35) Shardul Thakur 2/13 (4 overs) |
* Delhi Capitals won by 3 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals)
* Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field.
* Match 56 8 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 164/5 (20 overs) | v | Royal Challengers Bangalore 166/3 (20 overs) |
| Prithvi Shaw 48 (31) Mohammed Siraj 2/25 (4 overs) | | K. S. Bharat 78* (52) Anrich Nortje 2/24 (4 overs) |
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 7 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: K. S. Bharat (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
* Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field.
* Chennai Super Kings advanced to Qualifier 1 having a better net run rate than the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

## Playoffs
### Qualifier 1

* 10 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 172/5 (20 overs) | v | Chennai Super Kings 173/6 (19.4 overs) |
| Prithvi Shaw 60 (34) Josh Hazlewood 2/29 (4 overs) | | Ruturaj Gaikwad 70 (50) Tom Curran 3/29 (3.4 overs) |
* Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Nitin Menon (Ind) Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings)
* Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

### Qualifier 2

* 13 October 2021 19:30 (N) Scorecard
| Delhi Capitals 135/5 (20 overs) | v | Kolkata Knight Riders 136/7 (19.5 overs) |
| Shikhar Dhawan 36 (39) Varun Chakaravarthy 2/26 (4 overs) | | Venkatesh Iyer 55 (41) Kagiso Rabada 2/23 (4 overs) |
* Kolkata Knight Riders won by 3 wickets Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Umpires: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (Ind) and Michael Gough (Eng) Player of the match: Venkatesh Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders)
* Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field.

## Statistics
### Most runs

| No. | Name | Matches | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave. | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 0s | 4s | 6s |
| 1 | Shikhar Dhawan | 16 | 16 | 1 | 587 | 92 | 39.13 | 471 | 124.62 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 63 | 16 |
| 2 | Prithvi Shaw | 15 | 15 | 0 | 479 | 82 | 31.93 | 301 | 159.13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 56 | 18 |
| 3 | Rishabh Pant | 16 | 16 | 4 | 419 | 58* | 34.91 | 326 | 128.52 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 42 | 10 |
| 4 | Shimron Hetmyer | 14 | 13 | 6 | 242 | 53* | 34.57 | 144 | 168.05 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 12 |
| 5 | Shreyas Iyer | 8 | 8 | 3 | 175 | 47* | 35.00 | 171 | 102.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Most wickets

| No. | Name | Matches | Inns | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | BBI | Ave. | Econ. | SR | 4W | 5W |
| 1 | Avesh Khan | 16 | 16 | 61.0 | 0 | 450 | 24 | 3/13 | 18.75 | 7.37 | 15.25 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Axar Patel | 12 | 12 | 46.0 | 0 | 306 | 15 | 3/21 | 20.40 | 6.65 | 18.40 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Kagiso Rabada | 15 | 15 | 56.0 | 1 | 456 | 15 | 3/36 | 30.40 | 8.14 | 22.40 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Anrich Nortje | 8 | 8 | 30.2 | 1 | 187 | 12 | 2/12 | 15.58 | 6.16 | 15.16 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Ravichandran Ashwin | 13 | 13 | 44.4 | 0 | 331 | 7 | 2/27 | 47.28 | 7.41 | 38.28 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: ESPNcricinfo

## Awards and achievements
### Man of the Match

| No. | Date | Player | Opponent | Result | Contribution |
| 1 | 10 April 2021 | Shikhar Dhawan | Chennai Super Kings | Won by 7 wickets | 85 (54) |
| 2 | 18 April 2021 | Shikhar Dhawan | Punjab Kings | Won by 6 wickets | 92 (49) |
| 3 | 20 April 2021 | Amit Mishra | Mumbai Indians | Won by 6 wickets | 4/24 (4 overs) |
| 4 | 25 April 2021 | Prithvi Shaw | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Match tied (Won the super over) | 53 (39) |
| 5 | 29 April 2021 | Prithvi Shaw | Kolkata Knight Riders | Won by 7 wickets | 82 (41) |
| 6 | 22 September 2021 | Anrich Nortje | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Won by 8 wickets | 2/12 (4 overs) |
| 7 | 25 September 2021 | Shreyas Iyer | Rajasthan Royals | Won by 33 runs | 43 (32) |
| 8 | 2 October 2021 | Axar Patel | Mumbai Indians | Won by 4 wickets | 3/21 (4 overs) |
| 9 | 4 October 2021 | Axar Patel | Chennai Super Kings | Won by 3 wickets | 2/18 (4 overs) |