How Shreyas Iyer's first team may look like

Gambhir has stepped down as DD captain
Gautam Gambhir stepped down from captaincy following DD's poor performance

The Delhi Daredevils were riding high on their hopes after they welcomed their former skipper Gautam Gambhir back into their side for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL). Gambhir had been a part of his home-based franchise in the first three seasons of the league, out of which the southpaw had success in two seasons as the Daredevils made it to the semi-finals twice on the first three occasions.

After leading the Delhi Daredevils in 2010 Gambhir moved to the Kolkata Knight Riders to revamp their lost luck. The experienced campaigner led them to two titles in his initial four seasons, he led the Knights with aggression which prompted the people of Kolkata to make Gambhir their own son. Before the 2018 IPL auction Gambhir made his intentions clear, he wanted to end his career with his home-based franchise.

The move did not pay off as the Delhi Daredevils went onto lose five out of their first six games. Gambhir's show with the bat included a half-century in the first game but the opener's form faltered after the first match following which he was heavily criticized both for his batting and his captaincy. At this point in time, the Daredevils find themselves in a situation of jeopardy.

Earlier today, the Delhi lad stepped down from captaincy as the youngster Shreyas Iyer was named the captain of the side for the remainder of the IPL. The franchise from the North will be looking to turn their fortune around when they take on the field against the Kolkata Knight Riders on 27th April. The side will look different altogether in the absence of their former skipper Gautam Gambhir.

On this note, let us take a look at DD's probable XI against KXIP:


Openers

India's U19 winning skipper Prithvi Shaw recently became the youngest opener in the history of the IPL. At 18 years and 165 days, he was handed his debut cap when the Daredevils were up against the Kings XI Punjab on Monday. The flamboyant opener was looking positive before he threw his wicket away off a delivery from Ankit Rajpoot. Shaw scored a quickfire 22 off 10 deliveries which included five boundaries. The feature of his innings was his along the carpet cut shot. The Daredevils will continue with Prithvi at the top of the order, they would hope that the youngster can pay their faith back.

Colin Munro, the number two ranked T20I batsman was DD's first choice opener in the initial two games. Munro failed in the first game against the Kings XI Punjab and was dismissed without facing a single delivery in the second game against the Rajasthan Royals. A few tough calls were taken after this game and Munro was left out of the side. He was replaced by English opener Jason Roy who played a match-winning knock against the Mumbai Indians. After repeated failures, Roy was left out from the DD side, this could provide Munro with an opportunity to showcase his talent again. The southpaw can provide an aggressive start to the Daredevils.

Middle-order

Delhi's wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has been appreciated in recent times for his ability to take the game away from the opposition in a matter of moments. With his aggressive batting approach, the southpaw has been successful in domestic cricket. The fans witnessed glimpses of his talent when he scored 85 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on a slow wicket in Bangalore. Unfortunately, the keeper-batsman lost way against the Kings from Punjab after getting a decent start. In the absence of Gautam Gambhir, the fans would want Rishabh to score heavily.

Former skipper Gautam Gambhir nominated the Mumbai lad Shreyas Iyer as the new skipper of the Delhi Daredevils side. Iyer scored 57 in the previous game against the Kings XI, he helped DD to get close to the target with his lone contribution. Shreyas was retained by the franchise after his wonderful performance in international cricket albeit the stylish batsman has failed to answer the critics. He has given away starts in this tournament and this habit has affected Delhi's chances of winning. As a skipper, the 23-year-old is likely to take more responsibility. The pressure can affect him in a positive and in a negative way as well.

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been in and out of the Australian side due to his inconsistency and lack of responsibility. Maxwell was procured by the Delhi Daredevils in the auction and he was considered as DD's most valuable player before the commencement of the season. Maxwell has proved his fans wrong with his performances thus far in the tournament. He has failed to score big and has not even been amongst the wickets. His fielding standard has gone down rapidly and he has looked out of sorts in this year's competition. The fans and management would be hoping for a good performance from him in the next game.

Rahul Tewatia, DD's latest all-round recruit has performed better than most of their players this season. Tewatia has been used as a pinch hitter in most games, the wrist spinner failed to take up this role in a positive manner but despite this, he scored 24 in the previous game against the Kings XI to take his side closer to the target. The leggie has also deceived the batsmen with his flighted deliveries, he picked up three wickets against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the final over of the innings. Tewatia can be crucial to DD's chances of winning against KKR on Friday.

Indian all-rounder Gurkeerat Mann Singh was procured by the Delhi Daredevils for a nominal price in the auction. The Punjab lad has been unable to lure the management to pick him in the DD XI. Despite his all-round abilities, the hard-hitting batsman has been ignored. He was a part of the Kings XI Punjab before this season where he played only two games. Singh can play in this side as an all-rounder. Vijay Shankar might also play in this position but Iyer will have to use him more as a bowler if he wants to go ahead with Shankar. Iyer may also trust the youngster Abhishek Sharma who is a spin bowling all-rounder.

Bowlers

Kagiso Rabada's injury helped Liam Plunkett to earn an IPL call-up. The Delhi Daredevils replaced the South African quick with this tall lanky English pacer. Plunkett has performed brilliantly for England in limited overs cricket in the last few years. His height is an advantage for him as he extracts extra bounce on slow Indian tracks. With his newly added variations, the pacer is a threat to the batsmen. The England lad scalped three wickets in his first game and was named as DD's player of the game. He will be crucial against the KKR top-order which has the likes of Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa. His bowling in the death overs will be of importance as the in-form Andre Russell will be up against him.

Avesh Khan played the 2017 IPL season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He got only one opportunity to play in 2017, he took the chance with open arms as he picked up one wicket by giving away only 23 runs in his four overs. After Mohammad Shami's repeated failures Avesh was brought into the side at Shami's place. The pacer did not disappoint his captain as he took two wickets for 36 runs in his allocated four overs. He also took a brilliant catch to dismiss KL Rahul. The pacer was clicking the speed of 145 KMPH on regular basis.

Kiwi pacer Trent Boult has contributed to his franchise with both his bowling and fielding in this year's competition. Boult recently took a scintillating catch to dismiss Virat Kohli, the catch is being known as the catch of the season by the fans. Boult has been the lone fighter for the Daredevils in the bowling department. He has picked up nine wickets in the tournament so far. In DD's previous game Boult bowled economically upfront with the new ball and came back to pick up two wickets in the final over of the innings. The southpaw ended with figures of 2 for 21 in his three overs. He will be a threat in the next game against his former franchise KKR. He will be up against Chris Lynn who often struggles against left-arm pace.

Amit Mishra, the veteran wrist spinner has had a lot of ups and downs in his long IPL career. With 134 wickets in 128 games, Mishra is the second leading wicket-taker in the IPL. The Delhi Daredevils player is behind Lasith Malinga who has picked up 154 wickets in the IPL. In the first game of this season, Mishra took a beating as Rahul smashed him for more than 20 runs in an over. He has failed to pick up a single wicket in this year's competition so far, to add to that he has also conceded runs at a fair clip. His economy rate of 9.87 is considered high for a bowler of his class. Despite these poor statistics Iyer may trust his most experienced spinner in the next game.

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Edited by Amar Anand