5 players Delhi Capitals could target in the IPL auction

The Delhi Capitals, formerly known as the Delhi Daredevils, have one of the most abysmal records across all of IPL. They have finished at the bottom of the table a record four times in the league standings and have not yet reached an IPL final in 11 years of the tournament's history

The reason could be attributed to the fact that they have constantly chopped and changed the players over the years. This time around they have released their former skipper Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, and Naman Ojha ahead of the auctions.

Retained players: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult.

The Delhi-based franchise has a maximum salary cap of 25.3 crores to buy 10 players out of which three are overseas slots.

This time around they have enough in their tank to choose the right players according to their needs. Here are 5 such players whom the Delhi Capitals can target in this year's auctions.

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#5 D'Arcy Short

D'Arcy Short can be a dangerous batsman top of the order

Based on the present squad available, the Delhi Capitals might be looking at Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan as their opening batsmen. However, if the head coach Ricky Ponting feels that a backup opener is required then he might set his eyes on the hard-hitting attacking opener D’Arcy Short who had a mediocre debut season with the Rajasthan Royals last year.

The Australian, who has scored 1400 runs in 45 T20 matches, has caused quite a stir in the Australian T20 circuit. He could be a handful in the short boundaries of the Kotla stadium and is a useful bowler in the shorter formats.

#4 Axar Patel

Axar Patel could be the player who makes a magic for Delhi

The Delhi Capitals already have an experienced Indian campaigner Amit Mishra in their ranks, but what they lack is a quality spinner who can support Mishra from the other end. This is where someone like Axar Patel can come in. The Delhi can look at Axar Patel, who has had a decent run in T20s so far. The 24-year-old has picked up 92 wickets in 101 T20s.

Axar generally bowls at a relatively low economy rate and turns matches on his team’s favor with crucial wickets. He is also a useful lower-order batsman who has the ability to launch big at the fag end and be a good finisher for any side.

He was about to be a mainstay in the Indian squad but unfortunate injuries and dip in form caused him to be out of favor. But this season he could be one of the players to watch out for.

#3 Barinder Sran

He could be a great asset to Delhi

Barinder Sran had a decent start to his International career when he was picked for the tour to Australia 2016 but he has since then lost favour from the selectors as his numbers have gone over the past couple of seasons.

Sran was brought by Punjab on back his performance in IPL 2016, where he picked 14 wickets at an economy of 8.34 and the franchise went on to spent whooping Rs 2.2 crores on him, a price tag which he has failed to stand tall upon.

But he could not attain the same success for Punjab as he got in the Rajasthan camp and soon was released by the KX1P ahead of this year's auction.

With Delhi Capitals releasing their Indian pace spearhead Mohammed Shami ahead of the auction, Sran could be a great addition to Delhi given their pace attack which relies solely on Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult

#2 Heinrich Klaasen

Delhi can gain a finisher out of him.

Heinrich Klaasen was called up as a replacement player for Steve Smith after he had to miss last year's IPL due to various reasons. Klaasen was seen as a player with a calm and cool head with great finishing ability with his stroke-play and power hitting. He did play four matches for them scoring just 57 runs from his willow which was not quite up to the expectations and was released ahead of the auctions.

But his ability can never be questioned and his exploits can be valuable for the Delhi Capitals given the tracks are more suited to batting. He can be quite a handful in those conditions.

The hard-hitting batsman might be the ideal candidate to add quick runs in the Delhi middle-order apart from bringing in a lot of variety and Indian youngsters in setting up a good platform for the team.

#1 Shimron Hetmyer

The dashing left-hander can rule this IPL

Shimron Hetmeyer has been called many as the next big thing in the Windies Cricket and has a great future ahead of him. He can be the one who could be the highest sold player in this years IPL auctions. His attacking play will be wanted by any team but more so for the Delhi team which lack an explosive middle batsman.

The West Indian Shimron Hetmyer caught the eye of all Indians when he smashed 106 and 94 in the first two ODIs against India in October. The left-hand batsman can open the batting along with Shikhar Dhawan in the Delhi team or be the aggressor in the middle-order as well.

He is a star in the making and it is evident from the brief stint that he is having at the International arena. IPL is a place which makes a player and this year it could be Shimron who could help Delhi revive their fortunes.