Delhi Daredevils Release List Of Retained And Released Players

Ahead of the upcoming auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL), Delhi Daredevils announced the list of their retained and released players.

Former skipper Gautam Gambhir is one of the biggest names released by the franchise. He was bought by the franchise last season after his success with Kolkata Knight Riders. After playing the first three years for Delhi Daredevils, he had gone to Knight Riders and led the side to two IPL titles.

However, he could not weave his magic with Delhi Daredevils last season. In six games, the Daredevils won just one match before Gambhir stepped down as captain. Gambhir also failed to lead his side from the front, scoring just 85 runs in those six games.

And he did not play any game for the rest of the season. Rumours had suggested that Gambhir had himself decided to drop him from the playing eleven.

However, the veteran batsman had later quashed the rumours.

“I never dropped myself from the playing XI. If that was the case, then I would’ve announced the retirement as well. A lot of cricket is still left in me,” he had said,

However, the franchise has now parted its ways with him.

Other big names to be released by the franchise are Glenn Maxwell,  Liam Plunkett and Junior Dala. Maxwell was one of the costliest players last season but had failed to justify the price tag, scoring just 169 runs in 12 games. On the other hand, Plunkett and Dala were signed as replacements for Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada. Delhi Daredevils have retained Morris and Rabada.

Apart from Morris and Rabada, Colin Munro, Trent Boult and Sandeep Lamichhane are the other overseas players who will be plying their trade with Daredevils this season.

Among the Indian players Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and veteran Amit Mishra are the high-profile names that have been retained. A few days ago, Delhi Daredevils had traded the trio of Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma with SRH to acquire the services of India opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Well, the team will be looking to put up a strong showing next season and improve their reputation. In eleven seasons, they progressed ahead of the league stage just thrice and are yet to reach the final. Their last play-off appearance came way back in 2012. Since then, they have not managed to finish above sixth.

Meanwhile, the auction for the upcoming season will take place next month. There are also reports suggesting that IPL could start earlier than usual due to the World Cup.