India’s cricketing festival, the Indian Premier League is a tournament that everyone looks forward to. The championship has ten participating teams who belong to different states and cities in India. The ten teams play against the other nine in the pool stages to qualify for the playoffs and finally play the final to lift the trophy of the IPL.
The Indian Premier League has had an interesting history and has witnessed some thrilling knockouts, player combinations across different nations, title-winners, and noteworthy performances. The seasons have seen domination from multiple teams, be it pre-existing multi-time winners and champions, teams with destructive batting orders or undefeated bowling attacks, and even underdogs who have created upsets. No team can be considered weak as it is a fight between the best versus the best.
Among all the other teams stands the franchise, Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals, who have had a rollercoaster ride in their IPL journey. They are one of the unsuccessful teams who are yet to lift an IPL title. Through the course of these 15 seasons, they have had multiple ups and downs. They have easily been knocked out before the playoffs in the group stage, have reached the playoffs but have lost the semifinals, and have even reached the finals, but have unfortunately lost the game.
The Delhi-based franchise changed its name and identity in the year 2019 which also brought in good fortune for them. They became one of the most feared teams with an impressive batting order and bowling attack. Coach Ricky Ponting has oriented some valuable additions and brought some noteworthy changes to the team. They are the team with the most number of young and budding cricketers, who even put the experienced ones under the test.
Awaiting and hoping to lift their first IPL title, these are 3 Players that Delhi Capitals can include in their squad ahead of the auction for the 16th edition of the tournament –
1. Shai Hope
Shai Hope is a Barbadian cricket player who has amazing records in One-Day International cricket for the West Indies.
Shai can be a dangerous batting option for Delhi Capitals along with David Warner. He can be a good replacement for Prithvi Shaw who recently has not been in good form for the past few seasons in the IPL, and has not given the desired results to the team management. Also, as Delhi Capitals have released KS Bharat and Tim Siefert, they shall look forward to a wicketkeeper-batsman in the auction as a replacement for Rishabh Pant.
Shai Hope has not played a lot of T20 International knocks but has impeccable records in T20 domestic cricket and can serve as a good player in the IPL as well. For his teams, he has played 60 innings while batting at number 2 and even 4 and has scored 1231 runs, with the highest score of 88. He has a good strike rate of 118.93 and has scored 5 half-centuries in T20.
2. Adil Rashid
The former BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly announced that the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played in the home and away format. That means that Delhi Capitals will have to play a minimum of seven matches at their home in Delhi in the Arun Jaitley cricket stadium, which is widely known to be a batting pitch but also supports spin bowling.
Although Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are already in the squad, Adil Rashid an England right-arm leg break spinner can still add high value to the team’s bowling attack.
Adil Rashid has previously played for Punjab kings in the IPL. He has had good bowling figures and an economy rate in the recently held ICC Men’s T-20 World Cup 2022, wherein, he was a part of the winning team.
3. Manish Pandey
Delhi Capitals is well known for always having a hard-hitting batting order. With David Warner, Rishabh Pant, Rovman Powell, and Prithi Shaw, Delhi Capitals will still look forward to a balanced and experienced Indian batsman who can bat at any position and win games for the team.
Manish Pandey has been phenomenal in the T20 format and has good numbers on the board. He was recently released by Lucknow Supergiants and has played for multiple franchises in the past in the IPL like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors India, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In 149 innings he has 3648 runs in the IPL and is known to play the role of an anchor.. He has 21 half-centuries and one century in the tournament.
Conclusion
With a remaining purse value of ₹19.45 crores and only six spots to fill to complete their squad, Delhi Capitals have a good chance to come out strong in the IPL auction 2023 and have strong and impactful games in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League.
The fans will be happy to support the franchise on their home ground while anticipating and expecting their first title win.
FAQs
Q1. Is Shikhar Dhawan still playing for Delhi Capitals?
Ans – Shikhar Dhawan was released by Delhi Capitals before the 15th edition of the tournament and he now plays for PBKS.
Q2. Is Rishabh Pant the captain for the 16th edition of the tournament?
Ans – As of now, Rishabh Pant will continue to lead Delhi Capitals.
Q3. How much purse value do Delhi Capitals have for the auction?
Ans – Delhi Capitals has a remaining purse value of ₹19.45 crores.
Q4. How many players can DC buy in the auction?
Ans – BCCI allows only 25 players in the squad of an IPL team, Delhi Capitals already has 19 retained players, hence, they can only buy six more players.
