IPL 2019: 3 decisions at the auction that can help revive Delhi Daredevils' fortunes
Delhi Daredevils under Shreyas Iyer had a horror IPL 2018 as they finished at the bottom of the table. There were certain positives too from the tournament as Rishabh Pant scored more than 600 runs in the tournament and Prithvi Shaw & Shreyas Iyer chipped in with useful runs time and again.
Coming to the IPL 2019 auction, Delhi Daredevils released as many as 10 players from their squad, including Gautam Gambhir, whom they had hoped would help revive their squad in 2018.
List of Released Players: Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Naman Ojha
Post retention, their current squad looks as follows.
Batsmen: Manjot Kalra, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Colin Munro and Rishabh Pant (W).
All-rounders: Jayant Yadav and Chris Morris.
Bowlers: Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rahul Tewatia, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, , Kagiso Rabada, and Trent Boult.
Salary cap available: INR 25.5 Cr. || Available slots: 10; Indian-7, Overseas-3
We analyse the Delhi Daredevils squad, and here's what we think are the 3 main decisions they need to address at the upcoming auction.
#1: Buy a solid middle-order batsman
Delhi Daredevils have a settled top order in the form of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro as the back-up. However, their middle-order is heavily reliant on Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, and rightly so, as the duo were the pillars of their batting line-up in the 2018 edition.
in IPL 2018, they spent heavily on their third middle-order batsman, Glenn Maxwell, who once again had a poor IPL.
With Glenn Maxwell being released from the squad, Delhi Daredevils would be looking to buy another solid overseas middle-order batsman.
Luckily for them, they have INR 25.5 Cr. left in their kitty, and there are many overseas options available with them. Some of the good options include Aaron Finch, Henrich Klassen, Shimron Hetmyer and JP Duminy.
Apart from buying a solid middle-order batsman, Delhi Daredevils would also be looking to buy 1-2 more good batsmen as back-ups as currently they only have the 19-year-old, Manoj Kalra.