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Delhi Daredevils (DD) team in IPL 2016: Pack of budding players to vouch for in IPL 9

Delhi Daredevils will want to correct their unimpressive IPL record with a new crop of players.

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Delhi Daredevils have made some significant changes to the lineup © IANS
Delhi Daredevils have made some significant changes to the lineup © IANS

Delhi Daredevils (DD) made their entry in the inaugural season of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008 under ownership of the GMR Group. Their home ground remains Feroz Shah Kotla with recent inclusion of Raipur International Cricket Stadium as their secondary home venue. During the inaugural edition of IPL, former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag led the team and remains one of the iconic players for the franchise. The team included star players like Gautam Gambhir, South Africa’s AB de Villiers, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Glenn McGrath and Shoaib Malik over the years. They managed to reach semi-finals twice and playoffs once, which did not help them to reach the final target that they always aimed for. Live Updates & Blog, IPL 2016 Auction: List of sold & unsold players & teams in Indian Premier League 9 auction

Delhi Daredevils saw change in captaincy by 2009 with Gambhir taking the lead which is when they lost against Deccan Chargers in semi-final by 6 wickets. In 2010 and 2011, Delhi Daredevils finished fifth and last respectively. Delhi Daredevils  transformed itself with new players on its side. IPL 9 auctions went underway on Saturday with many new players to vouch for this season. Although DD have retained previous players and with new teams in this season, Gujarat Lions (GL) and Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), this season looks to be competitive. READ: Mumbai Indians team in IPL 2016: Strong scope to defend title

Delhi Daredevils spent ₹66,00,00,000 and chose a balanced squad as they required all-rounders as well as new budding cricketers from domestic circuit. The new DD team will witness many youngsters this season, listing few retained as well as new players bid through auction:

Retained Players: DD  let go off Yuvraj Singh from their team as he moved to Pune Warriors which was later discontinued. Manoj Tiwary and Angelo Mathews have also left their side. Some key retained players of Delhi Daredevils are:

Zaheer Khan: When Zaheer Khan started playing for IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore picked him. He later moved to Mumbai Indians for whoch he played two seasons and was back again to RCB. It was in last season Zaheer moved to Delhi Daredevils. He has so far played 77 matches in IPL and has picked 82 wickets at an average of 26 in the IPL. Considering he has retired from all formats of cricket, IPL is a format which Zaheer will look to take ahead in this season. READ: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team in IPL 2016: Some valuable purchases but too all-rounder heavy

Amit Mishra: Mishra was part of Delhi Daredevils right since inaugural edition in 2008, which is when he got a hat-trick and earned his name as highest wicket taker in every season of IPL. Sunrisers called upon for IPL 2014 but in 2015, he was back in Delhi Daredevils. He has played 98 matches and has taken 111 wickets at an average of 23.18. He surely will be a cricketer to watch out this season.

Mohammad Shami: Mohammad Shami started playing for IPL Kolkata Knight Riders since 2011. He was called in for Delhi daredevils in 2014 and that was the season when he gave away multiple maiden overs in a match. He has played 23 matches and picked mere 13 wickets at an average of 46.07. If he manages to shine in ICC World T20, we can expect some magical spells in this season of IPL.

Quinton de Kock: He was signed in for DD in IPL 2014 edition and has played just 13 matches with 231 runs on board and highest being 69 runs at strike rate of 126.57. After his impressive performances in ODI matches against India, it will be interesting to watch him show his talent out in open.

Mayank Agarwal: Agarwal played initially for Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2012, with his famous knock of 64 from 30 balls against bowlers like Lasith Malinga, RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh. With his mighty strokes, he was soon compared to legendary cricketer Virender Sehwag. He came in for DD from 2014 and since then has played his best in IPL season. His best has been 68 in 2015 season of IPL and his total runs in IPL so far was 761 runs at a strike rate of 125.16.

JP Duminy: Duminy has represented three teams in IPL playing for Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Deccan Chargers. He has played 67 matches and gained total runs of 1802 at strike rate of 125.13. His highest score in IPL so far has been 78 not out.

New Auctioned Players: Delhi Daredevils bought 13 players in total in IPL season 9 Auction on Saturday. Some are talented players from domestic circuit while some who have made debut in International cricket. Some of them to look out for are:

Karun Nair: Karun Nair represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2012. He has been dominant in domestic matches and has scored three centuries in six matches in  Ranji Trophy 2013-14 season and sparkling 151 not out in semi-final. He was chosen for Rajasthan Royals in 2014 and since the team has been banned for two years the players were on stake and now Delhi Daredevils picked them with a motto to show his domestic talent in this season.

Sanju Samson: Sanju Samson was playing for Rajasthan Royals and was left out batsman and Delhi Daredevils looking for some balanced side, will require batsmen who can stand out in the season and his 749 runs in IPL so far with strike rate of 121.98 will be worth looking out for.

Pawan Negi: Pawan Negi has been surprise pick in Sri Lanka tour to India and was the highest bid as well for Delhi Daredevils at 8.5 cr and once again a team from Chennai Super Kings. In the fifth edition of IPL, he has emerged well and come up with match winning performances for his IPl franchise. He was picked for CSK in 2014 and today back to Delhi Daredevils. He made his debut in 2012 with Delhi Daredevils. With his performances to watch out in Sri Lanka series, he will be one person to look out for.

Chris Morris: On February 3, 2013, Chris Morris’ life changed forever when CSK shelled out innumerable money to secure his all-round services at the 2013 IPL Player Auction. He caught the eye of CSK and Mumbai Indians during the tournament in South Africa, which resulted in frantic bidding between two franchises. CSK finally won the bid and he started playing from 2014. Since CSK are banned for two years, he will now be playing for Delhi Daredevils with highest bid.

Carlos Braithwaite: This will be debut season for this West Indies player and he was bid at 4.2 cr for Delhi Daredevils. He was recently made his Test debut against Australia and  T20I debut was against Bangaldesh. He is prominently known for domestic matches and with total runs of 1444 and highest score being 109. Since he is a Caribbean player, we can witness some big shots from him this IPL season.

The rest of the retained and new players list includes:

Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav , Travis Head, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, Albie Morkel.

New: Sam Billings, Pawan Suyal, Akhil Herwadkar, Joel Paris, Chama Milind, Pratyush Singh, Mahipal Lormor, Rishabh Pant, Khaleel Ahmed.

(Shruti Hariharan is Content Writer with CricketCountry. You can follow her on Twitter at @Shruti_2890)

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