IPL 2019: What the teams are looking for in the auction

Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals (previously Delhi Daredevils) has a history of releasing most of their players and starting afresh in every auction. However, this tactic has clearly yielded no good for the Delhi franchise. They have restructured their teams a lot of times, changed coaches, logo, to improve their chances, but in vain.

In the last auction, Delhi was very aggressive in bidding. Delhi had retained young guns, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant along with Chris Morris. Overall, at the end of the auction, the Delhi dugout looked a formidable squad of 24.

Delhi Capitals will hope that the change in name changes their fortunes

But the change in captain, coach and players did not add along for Delhi as they finished last once again. Gambhir resigned as captain, midway into the tournament, and a not so experienced Shreyas Iyer was handed over the role of skipper. Under Iyer too, Delhi could not revive their fortunes.

So, Delhi Capitals has once again decided to stay true to its tactic of clearing the unwanted stuff before entering the auction. Out of the 24 players, 10 have been released. These include the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Mohammed Shami and Glenn Maxwell among others. Releasing 10 players means that the auction is going to be quite a busy one for the Delhi franchise.

They need to fill up 10 slots with 7 Indians and 3 overseas players. Something worth noting here is that Delhi has strengthened its top order by securing the services of Shikhar Dhawan from SRH.

This time, Delhi has changed their name from Daredevils to Capitals, expecting a change in fortunes. Come the auction, Delhi will have to go out hunting for a reliable and strong middle order batsman, who is a clean hitter of a ball and can finish the game. Also needed is a fast bowling all-rounder as a back-up for Chris Morris.

Delhi will also be looking at an Indian pacer, a replacement for Shami. Another search is a good spinner who will accompany Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav, and come in handy, in case the other 2 are injured.