Delhi Premier League 2026: DPL Season 3

The Delhi Premier League is a franchise-based T20 tournament organised by the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) and sanctioned by the BCCI, designed to give Delhi's domestic cricketers a professional, IPL-style platform. Teams are built around Delhi's geographic zones, with squads combining capped India internationals, IPL regulars and emerging under-23 talent through a competitive player auction.

Launched in August 2024, the league has grown quickly in scale and profile. East Delhi Riders won the inaugural season, before West Delhi Lions, led by Nitish Rana, claimed the DPL 2025 title. The 2026 edition marks the league's biggest expansion yet, growing from six to eight franchises.

DPL 2026 introduces two new franchises, New Delhi Tigers and Outer Delhi Warriors, expanding the competition from six teams in its first two seasons to eight for Season 3. The DPL 2026 player auction was held in New Delhi on 1 July 2026, where all eight franchises completed their squads across multiple bidding rounds.

• Organising Body: Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), under president Rohan Jaitley.
• New for 2026: A Right to Match (RTM) card was introduced for the first time in DPL history, letting franchises retain auctioned players from their previous squads.
• Purse Cap: Each franchise operates within an INR 1.5 crore team purse, including retentions, encouraging sharper auction strategy.

Eight zone-based franchises make up the DPL 2026 field, each drawing players from its corresponding part of the capital.

Ahead of the auction, franchises retained a core group of players to build continuity, with the newly introduced RTM rule then letting them buy back select auctioned names. South Delhi Superstarz used their RTM card on wicketkeeper-batter Tejasvi Dahiya for INR 40 lakh, one of the headline retentions of the auction window.

The men's tournament opened on 31 July 2026 with Central Delhi Kings facing Purani Dilli 6 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, preceded by an opening ceremony featuring performances from Sunanda Sharma and Sukhbir Singh. All matches, men's and women's, are staged at the same venue in New Delhi.

The eight teams play one another once in a single round-robin league phase, comprising 40 matches, before the top four sides advance to the playoffs, taking the total to 44 matches for the men's competition.

• Qualifier 1: 1st-placed team vs 2nd-placed team, with the winner advancing directly to the final.
• Eliminator: 3rd-placed team vs 4th-placed team; the loser is knocked out.
• Qualifier 2: Loser of Qualifier 1 vs winner of the Eliminator, for the second final spot.
• Women's Competition: A separate four-team tournament running 20 August-2 September 2026.

DPL 2026 features several names familiar to IPL and India domestic cricket followers. Ayush Badoni captains South Delhi Superstarz, while Nitish Rana leads defending champions West Delhi Lions. East Delhi Riders' pace duo of Mayank Yadav and Simarjeet Singh headlines their bowling attack, and West Delhi Lions retain leg-spinner Suyash Sharma from their title-winning squad. Reports around Rishabh Pant's involvement have been mixed this season some squad listings place him with Purani Dilli 6, while other reports suggest his participation is uncertain because of international commitments, so his final status is worth confirming closer to his team's matches.

DPL 2026 matches are broadcast on Star Sports 1 Hindi and Star Sports 1HD Hindi for television audiences in India, with live streaming available on the FanCode app and website, subject to availability in other regions.

West Delhi Lions head into DPL 2026 as defending champions after winning the DPL 2025 final, chasing down a target of 174 in 18 overs for a six-wicket victory over Central Delhi Kings, with Nitish Rana named Player of the Match. It marked a turnaround from the league's inaugural season, when East Delhi Riders were crowned champions in 2024.

• DPL 2025 Champions: West Delhi Lions, defeating Central Delhi Kings by 6 wickets in the final.
• DPL 2024 Champions: East Delhi Riders, in the tournament's first-ever edition.
• Organising Body: Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), sanctioned by the BCCI.

• The league's biggest expansion yet, growing from six to eight franchises in just its third season
• First-ever use of the Right to Match card, adding a new retention strategy to the DPL auction
• A fresh title race after West Delhi Lions ended East Delhi Riders' reign as champions in 2025
• A growing platform for Delhi's young domestic talent to play alongside established IPL names

With eight teams, 44 matches and a full month of cricket at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, DPL 2026 is shaping up to be the biggest edition yet of Delhi's own T20 league, both for the depth of its new-look field and for what it means for the next generation of Delhi cricketers.