They tried five different openers in the previous season.
Delhi Capitals (DC) will head into the IPL 2026 auction with some areas of concern as they look to complete their squad. The mini auction is set to be held on December 16, and it would be interesting to see what the DC targets could be.
Delhi Capitals made a perplexing decision to trade out Donovan Ferreira in exchange for Nitish Rana. Later they released Jake Fraser-McGurk and Faf du Plessis among others. Following the retentions, they have a remaining purse of INR 21.8. They have enough in the bank to address their issues.
Delhi Capitals started the previous edition well but fell off the wagon in the second half. One of the major reasons for their struggles was their top order. They had two overseas openers in Fraser-McGurk and du Plessis, both of whom failed miserably. Eventually, they had KL Rahul, who batted in the middle order initially, move up the order.
Having let go of both the overseas batters, one of the DC targets will be to look for another opener who can provide them good starts. There are multiple openers in the market but the franchise could go for one out-of-the-box option that is Liam Livingstone.
English all-rounder Liam Livingstone has batted in the middle order across leagues in recent years. He has enjoyed decent success all over the world, and has been in pretty good form.
Livingstone had a poor IPL 2025 campaign but has been magnificent since. He has amassed 583 runs in the shorter format since June at an average of 53 while striking at 171. He recently hammered 82 not out off 35 deliveries in the ILT20. Despite this and his recent role, he can be tried as an opener and should be in DC targets at IPL 2026 auction.
For starters, opening isn’t new to Liam Livingstone. He started off his career as a top order batter before the spot competition in the England side made him move down the order.
He has a pretty good record at the top of the order, with over 2,500 runs at an average of 30 while striking at 145. He has registered one century and 15 half centuries while opening the innings.
ALSO READ:
At one point, Livingstone could be trusted to take on genuine pace. But his game seems to have regressed a bit against raw pace, which makes him less reliable to do the finisher’s job. As an opener, however, he will get more time to adjust and can be more destructive. Livingstone has the ability to turn the game on its head in the powerplay with field restrictions. There is merit in DC trying him at the top, given his all-round value.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
