Armed with the indispensable inputs of mentor Rahul Dravid, the Delhi Daredevils team is eyeing glory. The legendary batsman, who has taken Indian U-19 and India A teams to a whole new level with his guidance, is now working to get similar results at the IPL this time.
The Daredevils has been the most inconsistent side in the IPL ever since the start of the cash-rich league back in 2008.
This time, they are trying to strike the right chords. They began the process from the IPl 2016 players' auction. Almost every year, the management changed the combination of the team, which led to poor shows in most of the seasons, besides two.
This year, the Daredevils decided to retain most of their key players from the last season and still had enough money left in their wallet to buy some extremely useful players for the forthcoming season of the IPL.
There is very little margin of error and they are desperate to turn the wheels of fortune in their favour. With plenty of Indian and South African talents in the side, captain Zaheer Khan has a lot of options to play with. But the veteran seamer, who will lead the side, will have to find the right combination as early as they can.
Let us take a look at the Delhi Daredevils squad:
Batsmen: Several cricket experts felt bad after Shreyas Iyer was unable to find a place in the Indian cricket team. Iyer has had an incredible domestic season and he was the highest run-getter as well. He was extremely impressive in the last season of the IPL, and will look to emulate his form with his willow in the IPL 2016, along with Mayank Agarwal, whom the Daredevils have retained. Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Karun Nair, India U-19 star Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and, last but not the least, Carlos Brathwaite, who lit up the ICC World T20 finals at the Eden Gardens. They have a formidable batting lineup. The Daredevils have figured the puzzle, and now they need to solve it quickly to get positive results in this season of the IPL.
All-rounders: Brathwaite, Duminy, Pawan Negi, whom they bought for a whopping Rs 9.5 crore, Chris Morris and Mahipal Lomror will add to the all-round options. All of them might not get a game together but in times of an emergency they have a good back up bench.
Wicket-keepers: Quinton de Kock will be the first choice for sure. He has been in good form with the bat and will be guarding the stumps. Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson will also add to the wicket-keeping options.
Bowlers: Zaheer Khan will spearhead the Dardevils bowling attack. He will be ably assisted by Imran Tahir, Negi, Morris, Duminy and Brathwaite.
This is a compact team and the players just need to play up to their potential to get positive results in the IPL 2016.
The Daredevils begin their IPL 2016 campaign against the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on April 10.
Delhi Daredevils (DD)complete squad for IPL 2016: Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammad Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Jayant Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock, Pawan Negi, Chris Morris, Sanju Samson, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, Joel Paris, Sam Billings, Chama Milind, Pratyush Singh, Mahipal Lomror, Saeed Khaleel Ahmed, Akhil Herwadkar, Pawan Suyal.
