IPL Retention 2019: Ranking the teams based on retained players

#7 Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils have had a dismal record in the IPL. The move to trade Shikhar Dhawan with three quality Indian players looks like an effort to make the upcoming season count. Local boy Dhawan might be a better option than the under-cooked Shreyas Iyer to lead the side. Even with Dhawan around in the team, they still seem to lack an experienced leader. At the moment, the team is still looking unsure about its leadership options.

Trading an Indian all-rounder (Vijay Shankar), a left-arm spinner (Shahbaz Nadeem) and a budding batsman (Abhishek Sharma) for Dhawan might not have been a wise option, but only the performances will answer the trade.

The release of under-performing stars like Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Shami has freed their purse. They have a good pack of fast bowlers with the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, and Chris Morris. The tried and tested Amit Mishra and rookie mystery spinner Sandeep Lamichhane make up the spin department. They need quality middle order batsman to hold the batting together.

Retained: 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

Released: Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Naman Ojha

Traded: Shikhar Dhawan from SRH for Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem

Salary cap available: 25.50 cr

Available slots: 10; Indian 7, Overseas 3