Have Delhi Daredevils lost the IPL during the auctions, again?

Delhi Daredevils is the only team since the advent of the IPL which hasn’t made it to the finals of the IPL even once. The team showed a lot of promise in the first two seasons but it has been a rough ride for them ever since. With a batting line-up that could instil fear in any bowling attack in the world including the likes of Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan and AB de Villiers, the Daredevils marauded through to the knockout stages.

They have found going tough in recent years majorly due to their poor team selection, lack of a core team, lack of leadership within the squad and a lack of fighting spirit within the team. The fans, though, have always stood behind the team and came in to support the team in large numbers.

Let us begin by looking at their team bidding strategy for this year. Accused of chopping and changing their team too often, Daredevils retained their core of 14 players from a disappointing season releasing the big money flop Yuvraj Singh in the process. Even in the auction this year, their strategy was quite un-DDesque. From the words of their CEO Hemant Dua himself – it was a strategic shift in the bidding towards young Indian players.

Daredevils historically have spent big money on big players and relied on them to deliver the goods which hasn’t always gone according to plan. From hiring the now defunct RR’s strategist Zubin Bharucha coupled to having a huge war chest of 37.5 crore for spending, DD was expected to be very aggressive in the auctions and enthuse belief in the supporters of the franchise.

The Indian youngsters, however, did not come in cheap with wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson going for 4.2 crore, Karun Nair for 4 crore and Pawan Negi for a whopping 8.5 crore! Even considering their talent and potential, it is still quite easy to fathom Delhi’s desperation in getting youngsters and eventually overpaying for them.

The KKR franchise was enjoying the frantic DD bidding and was sending a few mocking tweets while the auction was ongoing. All-rounders Chris Morris (7 crore) and World T20 hero Carlos Brathwaite (4.2 crore) were the other major buys in the auction. Delhi’s most important buy, however, came after the auction when they roped in Rahul Dravid as the mentor for the team.

The squad: Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock (all 4 from South Africa), Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia), Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Pawan Negi, Sanju Samson, SK Ahmed, Pratyush Singh, Pawan Suyal, Chama Milin, Akhil Herwadkar, Mahipal Lomror, Chris Morris, Sam Billings, Joel Paris.

In hindsight, Delhi have tried to follow Rajasthan Royal’s philosophy. Though there is a youthful and talented feel to the squad there are a few holes they should have ideally looked at. First among them is roping in a strong and experienced leader. Zaheer Khan has been assigned captaincy, instead of last year’s captain J.P Duminy.

With due respect, Zaheer is not an ideal T20 bowler and is now past his best. Though he still has a lot to offer to this young team, making him captain wasn’t the best decision. There is a high possibility of them having to switch captains, due to Zaheer’s indifferent form (which has happened a few times in the IPL) midway through the IPL which is not a good scenario for the team.

However, their biggest miss is the lack of an impact player in the middle order. Their batting lacks experience in the middle order which could come back to haunt them especially during pressure situations. Their bowling also has an average look to it. They are loaded with quality spinners like Negi, Amit Mishra, Imran Tahir and Shahbaz Nadeem. It would augur well for them considering the wicket at Feroz Shah Kotla has traditionally been slow and dry.

The pace bowling looks suspect and is highly dependent on the fitness of their premier bowlers Zaheer Khan and Nathan Counter-Nile. In summary Delhi Daredevils, once again, haven’t made the best use of the financial resources at hand and the team looks pretty lightweight overall. How they would have liked the services of someone from the auction like say a Jos Buttler or a Shane Watson in the middle order.

Having said that DD have immense talent especially in the batting department. Under the able mentorship of Rahul Dravid, the team can definitely overachieve. Everything said and done, this would be moulded into a fighting unit under Dravid. A lot depends on their foreign players especially Quinton de Kock and Duminy who are established players in this format and amongst the few impact players that DD have. Braithwaite, afresh from a dream world cup brings in the X-factor to the team.

IPL has always been about uncertainties and every Dravid fan would love to see another young team pulling their socks up and rejoice another replication of Rajasthan Royals. The Kotla crowd definitely deserves it.