The Delhi Daredevils have started another season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on a terrible note. They have lost three out of the four games they have played and are currently sitting at the bottom of the table. Gautam Gambhir’s return to the franchise hasn’t changed the fortunes of the team.
The young prodigy Prithvi Shaw is in the Delhi set up, and the Mumbai cricketer’s fans must be wondering why hasn’t he been given a go yet. However, even if Delhi are looking to make changes to their batting line-up, Shaw seems to be far away from getting a chance at the moment.
Here’s a look at the reasons for Shaw being left out of the Delhi Daredevils’ eleven.
1. Settled Opening Pair
Shaw opens the batting for Mumbai in first-class and list A cricket. Therefore, the Delhi Daredevils team management is certainly looking at him as a reserve opener.
One of the opening positions is locked for the entire season as captain Gautam Gambhir prefers to stick to his spot. And the other one is currently held by England’s Jason Roy, who scored 91 runs off 53 balls against Mumbai Indians. Roy’s innings helped Delhi record their only victory of the season so far.
2. No T20 Experience
With no experience in professional T20s, Shaw has very little chance to find a place in the middle-order as well. And the current team combination makes the chance even slimmer.
In the first four games, Gambhir has made it clear that he needs at least two all-rounders in the top seven. Vijay Shankar and Chris Morris played as the all-rounders in their last match and in the match before that Daniel Christian was slotted in the number seven position after Shankar. This selection strategy leaves three slots for batsmen after the openers. Currently Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell are holding the positions from 3 to 5.
Maxwell surely cannot be replaced, and Iyer and Pant were retained by Delhi ahead of the IPL auction, since they have proved their prowess in the IPL.
3. Poor List A Record
Shaw, who has mostly made a name for himself in the first-class arena, is yet to score a century in list A cricket. In 13 list A matches, Prithvi has scored 298 runs at an average of 22.92, which means he is yet to prove himself in the shorter format.
More importantly, Prithvi has been striking at a rate of 91.69 in list A cricket. The Delhi team management wouldn’t want to take the risk of playing a batsman who strikes at less than a run a ball at this stage of the tournament.
Delhi need to win seven out of their remaining 10 matches to have a chance to qualify for the play-offs. They cannot afford any slip-ups.
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