The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2027 mini-auction is scheduled to take place on December 16 at the ITC Grand in Goa, India. Ahead of the mini-auction, the teams are planning their retentions and making trade deals before the retention deadline on November 17. Amidst this, Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Sourav Ganguly has revealed their plans for the auction.

DC has been one of the finest teams on paper; however, their performance on the field has not been up to the mark. They have failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last four seasons; they last qualified for the top 4 in 2021, and in 2020 they played in the final of the tournament, losing to Mumbai Indians (MI).

Sourav Ganguly reveals DC plans for mini-auction

While speaking to Anandabazar Patrika, Sourav Ganguly revealed the two players that the Capitals are eyeing in the mini-auction. DC are planning to bring back Australian national cricket team opener Jake Fraser-McGurk and West Indies National Cricket Team captain Shai Hope, who is having a sensational run in the T20Is and was also part of the side back in the 2024 season.

Sourav Ganguly said (as quoted by News18), "We have two overseas players in our sights. We want to bring in Australia’s Fraser McGurk and West Indies’ Shai Hope." However, with a stacked top order, DC will like to let go of some of their batters to make room for the two players that the head coach has in mind.

Jake Fraser-McGurk's IPL career

Jake Fraser-McGurk was included as a replacement player for South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi in IPL 2024. While opening the innings, he played 9 games for the franchise in the 2024 season and scored 330, which was impressive given the way he scored, as he had a strike rate of 234.04, for which he was retained the very next season.

However, the Aussie opener did not have the best of times in the 2025 season, as he played just 6 games and scored 55 runs, and his strike rate also dropped. He was released by the franchise ahead of the 2026 mini-auction and was unsold during the mini–auction. If he gets a lifeline yet again, he needs to capitalise on it.

Shai Hope will be in demand in the IPL 2027 mini-auction

Shai Hope, on the other hand, was picked with INR 40lakh during the 2024, he played 9 matches but failed to have an impact for the franchise as he scored 183 runs with an average of 22.87 and a strike rate of 150. Thus, he was released next season, and he did not play in the last two seasons.

Hope has been sensational in the last few years as he has developed as a batter and a captain as well. The Windies white-ball captain was superb in the T20I series against India, finishing as the leading run-scorer with 261 runs and scoring two centuries in the five matches he played.

Sourav Ganguly might not get him easily, as other franchises like KKR and LSG need a top-order batter and a captain for the side, as LSG has traded Rishabh Pant to Sourav Ganguly’s side and KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane has also retired.