IPL 2017: Delhi Daredevils (DD) Probable Playing 11 against Royal Challengers Bangalore
The perennial underdogs of the Indian Premier League, the Delhi Daredevils will look to beat the odds and win their maiden IPL title. The team, led again by Zaheer Khan, will begin their campaign against the Royal Challengers Bangalore away from home on Saturday and will hope to put in a similar performance as they did last year against the same team at the same venue.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Daredevils, 5 factors of winning
After having a good auction, the team will now look to join all the dots and climb onto the podium on the 21st of May. Here’s a look at their possible playing XI:
Openers
Sam Billings
The England right-hander, who played in the middle-order in the last season, will need to move to the top of the order since Shreyas Iyer will be out of action due to illness, for the initial matches.
For England, earlier this year, the Kent cricketer opened with Jason Roy and he will look to put that experience into use for the Daredevils.
In his overall T20 career, Billings has played 99 matches, scoring 1714 runs at a strike-rate of 123.
The Zaheer Khan-led side will hope for the right-hander to get the team off to a good start to reduce the burden on what is expected to be a fairly inexperienced middle-order.
Rishabh Pant
Joining Billings at the top will be one of India's brightest talents – Rishabh Pant.
The youngster, who made his T20I debut for India against England in February, will be eager to shine in what could be an extended run for him at the top of the order.
Pant showed what he could do if given a chance at the top when he made a 40-ball 69 against the Gujarat Lions in Rajkot last year and he will hope to make a similar kind of impact against all the teams in this year's edition.