Delhi Capitals IPL 2026 News: Cricket Australia's ongoing contemplation over Mitchell Starc's No Objection Certificate (NOC) has left Delhi Capitals in a state of uncertainty, with the Australian pacer's availability for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener on April 1 hanging in the balance.

Despite the delay, the franchise remains optimistic that Starc will join the squad. Delhi Capitals' cricketing brass, including Axar Patel, Venugopal Rao, and Hemang Badani, addressed the Starc conundrum in a media interaction.

"We are waiting to get the NOC from Cricket Australia. Once we get that, we will know when he will join us," said Badani.

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"We are in constant touch with CA. He has been bowling; he had bowled a few days back. Unless Cricket Australia signs off on him that he is fit to play, there is little a franchise can do," said the coach when asked if the delay in issuing NOC was due to fitness or workload management.

Sitting next to him, Rao added, "He is coming, it is just a question of getting the NOC from Cricket Australia. They are monitoring, we are monitoring (his fitness and workload). "

DC captain Axar Patel was quizzed about whether T Natarajan would fill Starc's shoes if the Australian misses the April 1 opener against LSG in Lucknow.

"It is tough to answer that at this stage. If Starc gets NOC, he can also come before the first match. We are waiting for that update. If he doesn't come, there is no temptation to replace a left arm pacer with a left arm pacer,” Axar said.

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"It is about team combination. Having said that, Natajaran is doing really well and is 100 per cent fit," said Axar.

Indian Premier League 2026: Delhi Capitals Squad

Nitish Rana, Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Auqib Nabi, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson.