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New Delhi: Delhi Capitals head coach Hemang Badani has termed the franchise's decision to release seasoned South African batter Faf du Plessis from the squad as a difficult call. Du Plessis, who has been a regular in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last few years, was part of DC's setup last season but decided to opt out of the upcoming auction and the 2026 edition of the IPL. He will now feature in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Du Plessis represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant during his IPL career, which ended last week after he announced his retirement from the league.
Badani revealed the reason behind the franchise's decision to release Du Plessis during the 'IPL Retention Show' on JioHotstar and explained the thought process behind the tough call. He said the team wanted to move towards a younger, more aggressive option aligned with the team's style of play.
"It's never easy to release a player of Faf du Plessis' calibre. Letting him go was a really tough decision because he has been a stellar performer in the IPL for many years," Badani said.
"But we felt it was time to move towards a younger option, someone who could bring a more aggressive style that fits the brand of cricket we want to play."
The former South Africa skipper, 41, quit Test cricket in 2021 but hasn't officially retired from white-ball cricket. Though has not been picked for the national team since the 2019 World Cup.
Despite his age, the hard-hitting Proteas star is still regarded as one of the fittest active cricketers in the world. He has kept himself busy playing franchise T20 cricket across the globe. Last IPL season, he scored 202 runs in 9 matches for the Capitals before an injury ended his campaign.
The Capitals also parted ways with young Aussie swashbuckler Jake Fraser-McGurk. Badani explained the reason behind the franchise's move.
"With Jake Fraser-McGurk, we backed him based how he performed last season, but at nine crore, we didn’t feel we got enough value from that investment.
"So, we felt it was best to let him go as well. Overall, we are quite pleased with the squad we have right now," he added.
The IPL auction will be held on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. As many as 1355 players registered for the auction, with 10 teams looking to fill 77 slots, including 31 for overseas players.
