Blunders of Delhi Daredevils -How DD lost Kohli, Warner and these 4 other stars

05/31/2016

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9,8,7,6 – this is not a countdown. These are the IPL finishing positions of Delhi Daredevils in the last four seasons. From a team which made the playoffs in the first two seasons, Delhi took a free-fall dive in terms of league position and also the quality of players in their team.

IPL is a very competitive tournament, one which is settled on the field with 22 players putting their best to win the title, but the actual battle begins right at the IPL auctions. Buying, selling and retaining players in the team are one of the most important aspects in this competition and Delhi Daredevils have undoubtedly lost more battles due to their flawed decisions than due to their incompetence on the field.

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Here we look at the top-6 players which the Delhi Daredevils could have easily acquired or retained but instead they let them go and those very same players have brought laurels to their current IPL teams.

6. Andre Russell

The West Indian all-rounder played for the Delhi franchise for just two seasons in 2012 and 2013 with a total of 7 matches to his name which saw him score 58 runs and pick up one wicket. As things turned out, Kolkata Knight Riders picked him up in the 2014 IPL auction and the big-hitting Caribbean star has produced match-winning performances on numerous occasions for his current side. He also won the Most Valuable Player award in the IPL 2015 edition and helped his side win the IPL title in 2014.

5. Glenn Maxwell

In 2012, Glenn Maxwell played two matches for the Delhi Daredevils with 6 runs to his name. After being released by Delhi in the subsequent season, Maxi was bought by Mumbai Indians at the 2013 IPL auctions for 1 million US dollars, making him the most expensive player at the auction.

Although Maxwell was soon released by Mumbai Indians, his performances for his current squad, Kings XI Punjab, at the 2014 season saw his side reach the final of the tournament and him winning four ‘Man of the Match’ awards in the process.

4. AB de Villiers

Mr. 360 represented the Daredevils for the first three seasons and was a pivotal cog in the team’s success. In his 28 matches, he scored 671 runs which helped the side make it to the playoffs in the first two seasons.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore signed him up in the fourth season, and there are hardly any superlatives left to describe the genius that AB de Villiers has displayed over the seasons for the Bangalore outfit. The void in quality and experience which the Delhi Daredevils clearly suffer, could have easily been filled with his presence in the side.

3. Gautam Gambhir

Releasing their captain, Gautam Gambhir, who had a win percentage of almost 58% was one of the most bizarre decisions that the Delhi Daredevils camp has ever taken. Add to it, the fact that they brought Dinesh Karthik as his replacement as captain just made it worse and certainly something that they regret till date.

Gautam Gambhir went on to captain the Kolkata Knight Riders side to two successful IPL campaigns and went on to score 23 fifties after leaving the Daredevils, making it a total of 31 fifties, second only to David Warner who has 34 to his name.

2. David Warner

The Sunrisers Hyderabad captain and opener played for Delhi Daredevils in 58 matches over a span of 5 seasons. He even captained the side for two matches but ended up on the losing side on both occasions.

In 2014, he was released by Delhi Daredevils and it was as if his new team just rejuvenated the Aussie opener. He averaged over 43 in every single season following his departure from Delhi. Warner not only won the Orange cap in the 2015 season, but also went to score a whopping 848 runs in the 2016 season taking his side to lift the IPL trophy.

1. Virat Kohli

Not many know this ,but there was a very high possibility that the current Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, Virat Kohli, could very well have been leading his home town of Delhi instead of Bangalore, had it not been for a massive blunder from the team management in 2008.

As per the IPL draft norms, each franchise had the option to select two Under-19 players ahead of the inaugural edition of IPL. Delhi Daredevils had the option of picking first. They went for Pradeep Sangwan over Virat Kohli, and they bought the pacer for $50,000. RCB then managed to secure the services of, arguably, the world’s best batsman for just $30,000, and the rest as they say is history.

(Also Read : Numbers don't lie | How high has Kohli's 2016 raised the bar above Gayle's 2012?)

In overview, had it not been for these and few other blunders by the team management, the following could very well have been the Delhi Daredevils line-up in the recently concluded IPL 2016 season.

· Gautam Gambhir

· David Warner

· Virat Kohli

· AB de Villiers

· Glenn Maxwell

· Andre Russell

· Irfan Pathan

· Amit Mishra

· Zaheer Khan

· Umesh Yadav

· Ashish Nehra

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