Delhi Daredevils is the only team from the original eight to have not played even a single IPL final. The team always bears the tag being in transition and almost every season they press reset button where they shuffle the team combination completely. All these cycles of inaction-reaction have left Delhi as a perennial unsuccessful team. This year, they have Gautam Gambhir at the helm of the affairs and a good combination of players to support him.
In last few years, Delhi Daredevils has established its image that of the one team which always encourages the youngsters. They continued the trend this year too. The most prominent signing that of the Indian under-19 captain Prithvi Shaw. To top that, they bought the leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhhane making him the first ever Nepalese player in the IPL. The duo may not be a permanent feature in the team but in whichever matches they play, they will be the X-factors.
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Sandeep Lamicchane
Coming from the quaint snow-capped nation of Nepal, many eyeballs will be on the 17-year old leggie who has gained fame in international cricket even before turning 18. The spin bowler first impressed the cricketing fraternity with his performances in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament.
Michale Clarke, the former Australian captain gauged the talent and decided to nurture it further. The generous batsman paved the way for Lamicchane to get trained at the cricket academy in Sydney. Th spinner next made his impact in the under-19 world cup as he ended up as the highest wicket-taker for Nepal in the competition.
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Even before leading Nepal into the World Cup qualifiers 2018, Lamicchane was snapped by Delhi Daredevils whose coach is Ricky Ponting. Lamichhane justified his selection with very good performances in the Qualifiers stage. He was an important cog in Nepal’s successful claim of the ODI status.
Playing in the IPL alongside some of the greats in the game will be a great learning experience for the young Nepalese. He will be the player to watch out for if gets an opportunity in the playing XI.
Prithvi Shaw
Mumbai cricket has long been considered as the greatest nursery of Indian cricket. The production was on halt for a few years but this new star emerged on the horizon to keep the tradition alive. The little boy from Mumbai has evoked the comparisons with none other than Sachin Tendulkar himself.
The talent was obvious from the very beginning. At the age of 14, Prithvi Shaw slammed 546 runs in a school game to establish the then-world record. The youngster kept churning out runs in Mumbai cricket and soon made his way into the first-class team.
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18-year old Prithvi Shaw already has five first-class centuries in his name. The boy also led the Indian under-19 side to a world cup win this year in New Zealand. His attractive strokeplay was enough to be on the list of various IPL franchises, he was finally picked up by Delhi Daredevils.
DD already has Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson etc. in its young quota, but without a doubt, Shaw is the most interesting prospect. How will the young Mumbai boy cope up against the International bowers will be a scenario worth paying for.
Delhi Daredevils Full Squad for IPL 2018:
Gautam Gambhir (c), Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris, Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammad Shami, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Daniel Christian, Jason Roy, Naman Ojha, Prithvi Shaw, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Avesh Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sayan Ghosh
