Delhi Daredevils went hard at the bidding and got some good buys. They had retained Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Chris Morris for IPL 2018. They bid hard for Glenn Maxwell and were successful in buying him for 9 crores. Colin Munro was also bought by Delhi for a bargain price of 1.9 crore.
They also bought Gautam Gambhir and announced that he will lead the side in IPL 2018. This means Pant and Munro will most possibly open for Delhi Daredevils and either Gambhir or Iyer coming in next. Pant and Munro at the top can help Delhi get going in the power play overs and set up a platform for the big show.
This will give time to Glenn Maxwell to set his game and along with Vijay Shankar and Chris Morris provide the death overs fireworks. Gambhir and Iyer will be tasked with keeping the momentum going for the DD in middle overs.
The spin bowling will be handled by veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra and left arm off spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. Delhi Daredevils did well to get back their two best fast bowlers in Mohammed Shami and Kagiso Rabada. These two along with Chris Morris can be lethal on helping tracks.
Shami and Rabada proved to be brilliant for DD last season also, and though they have lost Pat Cummins to MI, they have poached Trent Boult for the IPL 2018, who is as good as Cummins in the bowling department.
Delhi Daredevils do have the options of picking Jayant Yadav and Trent Boult in place of Nadeem and Rabada; but they lack a backup for Mohd Shami, who has a dicey record for fitness and has rarely played a full season of IPL. DD will definitely pray that Mohd Shami is present for them for all the important matches that DD plays, especially on the pitches like Dharamshala and Eden Gardens, who offer some bounce and seam movement.
Amit Mishra and Shahbaz Nadeem will be deadly on the slow Delhi track and should prove difficult to get away on Kotla pitch. Hopefully, they will also present a chance to Jason Roy and Prithvi Shaw in some matches in IPL 2018.
Possible Playing XI:
Gautam Gambhir (C), Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Vijay Shankar, Chris Morris, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohd Shami, Kagiso Rabada.
