Delhi Capitals spent Rs 18.85 crore of their remaining purse of Rs 27.85 crore in the 2020 IPL auction. Out of their 11 vacant slots, they picked eight players in all, while filling all of the five available overseas slots.
IPL Auction Strategy
Delhi's auction strategy has been informed by two major factors: The slow nature of the pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla, rather the Arun Jaitley stadium, and head coach Ricky Ponting's personal reading of the game.
“Really excited for the #IPLAuction tonight. We'll look at two batters, potentially an all rounder and two fast bowlers. We've got a strong contingent of Indian players already so our main goal is to get the best players available. @DelhiCapitals,” the former World Cup winning Aussie captain had Tweeted earlier in the day.
Even before auctions began, Ponting made it very clear what his team was after. The Capitals were looking for two batsmen, two bowlers and potentially an all-rounder as well. And this is exactly what they got among their big ticket picks.
Delhi Capitals roped in Jason Roy and Shimron Hetmyer as their top two batting picks while Chris Woakes and Mohit Sharma are their top two bowling picks. The potential all-rounder, so to say, is Marcus Stoinis. The team has also managed to bag another three players in the form of wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey and locals Lalit Yadav and Tushar Deshpande.
"We were pleasantly surprised to get Chris Woakes and Jason Roy for Rs 1.5 crore each, and then getting a player like Shimron Hetmyer was the icing on the cake... We now have plenty of batting options and there's enough players to choose from for Ricky, depending on their form and fitness along with the playing conditions," DC co-owner Parth Jindal looked pleased with the franchise's performance at the auctions.
In the trading window, the Capitals had released Chris Morris, Colin Ingram, B Ayyappa, Hanuma Vihari, Jalaj Saxena, Manjot Kalra, Nathu Singh, Ankush Bains and Colin Munro. The team had also traded Trent Boult, Sherfane Rutherford, Jagadeesha Suchith and Rahul Tewatia for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane. This meant that DC were already well covered on the batting and spin front, and they bid accordingly.
The Most Sensible Picks
The pick that offers Delhi Capitals the best return on investment is Chris Woakes. Getting a genuine all-rounder like Woakes for just Rs 1.5 crores is a heist. Not only Woakes' change of pace and his slew of variations will come in handy for the Capitals on a slow Delhi pitch, he is quite an underrated batsman as well with a T20 batting average of almost 25 and a strike rate of 136.10.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis at Rs 4.8 crore is also a pretty decent deal. Stoinis was on fire in the last edition of the Big Bash League as he almost single-handedly pummelled Melbourne Stars to the finals. Apart from smoking 533 runs from 13 innings at an average of 53.30 and a strike rate in excess of 132, Stoinis also picked up 14 wickets at an average of 16.14.
Although his current form is not the best, the Aussie is a tried and tested entity, both at the international stage and across leagues all around the globe.
At least Indian fans who have been following the ongoing West Indies tour of India will know that Shimron Hetmyer at Rs 7.7 crores is also not too bad a pick. Hetmyer was the third-highest scorer in the T20I series and then powered the Men in Maroon to an 8-wicket victory in the first ODI with a 106-ball 139, one of the best limited-over knocks in recent times. The West Indian will be in the role of the finisher.
Second Line of Attack
Apart from these three, Jason Roy and Alex Carey are names that would walk into most international sides, but not in Delhi Capitals. Both will not make Delhi's starting XI but have been picked as backup options.
With the Capitals already having an embarrassment of riches in the batting line-up due to the Indian talent, Roy is the reserve opener which allows the team flexibility if they want to mix and match with their overseas and domestic options. Roy has an average of around 30 in the two IPL seasons that he has been a part of - 2017 and 2018. His IPL career strike rate of 133.58 may not be the most attractive but we all know what he is capable of.
The selection of Alex Carey is pretty interesting given that Rishabh Pant is already in the side. But, a quick look at the squad and you know that there isn't any backup wicket-keeping option and hence the choice. Carey is a pretty useful batsman and moreover, he is a great team-man, a quality that probably had the most say in landing him the gig.
With Avesh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul and Chris Woakes, Delhi are already covered in the pace bowling line-up, but Mohit Sharma provides them with another option. One must not forget that Sharma may have had a couple of low seasons but his numbers right from 2013 to 2017 are quite impressive. And you anyway don't ever discount the the back-of-the-hand slower one.
Again, Lalit Yadav (all-rounder; right-hand batsman, right-arm off-break) and Tushar Deshpande (right-arm medium bowler) will obviously not be the first-choice picks for Delhi, but having a couple of talented Indian options in the squad when you can get them dirt cheap is never a bad idea, is it?
Delhi Capitals’ Final Squad
Shreyas Iyer (c), Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Jason Roy, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Mohit Sharma, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, R Ashwin, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, Rishabh Pant (wk), Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer, Tushar Deshpande
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)