Opinion: Shikhar Dhawan should be made the captain of Delhi Daredevils
Delhi Daredevils made the headlines by signing one of the best openers of the modern era, Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL trade window.
The Delhi-based franchise had to give three players in the form of Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Abhishek Sharma to the Sunrisers to acquire the services of Dhawan.
Delhi Daredevils released 10 players from its 2018 squad which included the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Dan Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Shami and Jason Roy as well.
The side had named Gambhir as its captain for the 11th edition of IPL, but he was replaced by Shreyas Iyer mid-way in the tournament due to the Delhi batsman's lacklustre performance.
Iyer led the team till the end of the season but the Daredevils had to settle for the last place in the points table.
They had immense talent in the squad but all they lacked was experience. In a league game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, DD managed to amass 187 runs in their 20 overs riding over Rishabh Pant's century but squandered away the match as Dhawan and Williamson stitched a record partnership to lead Hyderabad home.
In a match against Kings XI Punjab, they restricted an in-form Mohali franchise to 143/8 yet faltered in the chase and fell short by 6 runs in the end as they finished at 139/8 in 20 overs. There were numerous occasions where DD was very close yet too far. An experienced captain or a cool-headed leader could have inspired the young brigade to victories in those matches.
Gambhir failed to do the job last time but Shikhar Dhawan is the perfect man who could lead the Delhi Daredevils to glory this season.
He is a seasoned veteran in the Indian Premier League, who has captained an IPL franchise in the past and plus of course, he is a regular in the Indian T20I squad which shows his good form and experience.
Shikhar Dhawan, if made the captain of the Delhi Daredevils can seriously lead the franchise to their first IPL title as the team already has some of the world-class young players in Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris, Colin Munro, and Amit Mishra. And also looking at the retained personnel of the Daredevils, Shikhar Dhawan seems to the be the best option to captain the side as all the other young players may crumble under the pressure of captaincy.
The Delhite would also love to lead his home franchise and the owners would also have an opportunity to market the franchise with Shikhar as the team's face. He has the potential to draw in bigger crowds and can a help Delhi reach newer heights in the league.