One of the most impressive franchises over the last 2-3 years, Delhi Capitals haven’t impressed one and all with their squad for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. Having lost the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin and Avesh Khan among top players before the auction, DC don’t seem to possess the same quality that saw them emerge among the top sides in the league.
Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer, who has become a famous pundit these days, doesn’t feel DC exude the same confidence that they did the past couple of seasons, all because they got their auction strategy wrong.
“Delhi Capitals got it wrong with their strategy at the auction. They should have kept the international series’ in mind while picking players. They chose only seven overseas cricketers when the maximum limit is 8. This is not the same DC side as the last two years. Probably Mandeep Singh or Yash Dhull could open. Sarfaraz Khan could bat at 3. They will have to make a lot of adjustments to find the best combination,” Jaffer said during a discussion.
In the spin department, Delhi lost the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra while bringing in Kuldeep Yadav, a player who has barely featured in the T20 league over the last two campaigns. Though there’s no denying the ability that Kuldeep has, he hasn’t been as impressive in white-ball cricket as he was during the first few years of his career.
Even in the batting department, the loss of Shikhar Dhawan, who was franchise’s highest run-getter last year, is a big one. Though teenage batter Yash Dhull has come in, expecting him to shine in his maiden IPL campaign is going to be a big ask.
“They have taken Kuldeep Yadav but, on the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin has been released. Earlier, they had Amit Mishra, now they have to make do with Pravin Dubey and Lalit Yadav. In the batting, they released Shikhar Dhawan and picked Yash Dhull, Mandeep Singh and Srikar Bharat,” he added.
