Less than five days remain for the much-anticipated IPL 2019 to commence. All the teams have kickstarted their training sessions. The first encounter of the upcoming edition will be contested between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Each team was given a budget of ₹82 Crore for completing its squad of a maximum of 25 players. A total of 60 players (40 Indian and 20 overseas) went auctioned at the 2019 IPL auctions. A whopping ₹107 crores were spent by all the franchises combined at the auction.
The Punjab-based franchise, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) opted to go for a major overhaul and retained just 9 of their players from last season. Meanwhile, the defending champions CSK retained as many as 23 players from last season and have pretty much the same side.
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The auctions are now done and dusted with and the complete squads of the 8 IPL teams have been formed. In this article, we take a look at what is the strength of all the franchises.
#8 Delhi Capitals (DC) – Top Order Batsmen
Delhi Capitals appointed in Ricky Ponting to be their head coach ahead of IPL 2019. They would be looking to bounce back strongly after finishing at the rock bottom 8th place on the IPL table last time around.
With the comeback of Shikhar Dhawan in the franchise, DC management will be hoping for a better future this season. ‘Gabbar’ had been going through a dry spell with the bat but proved his worth for the Indian team by smashing 143 in the 4th ODI against Australia recently. That was his highest-ever score in ODIs and would give him a much-needed morale boost.
DC has dependable top-order batsmen such as Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, and Prithvi Shaw, who will give the Capitals a good start – more often than not.
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What’s more, is that the top-order will be followed by the likes of Rishabh Pant and all-rounders Hanuma Vihari and Colin Munro. Delhi Capitals look balanced overall as they have the brilliant fast bowling unit comprising Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, and Ishant Sharma. Colin Ingram, Amit Mishra, and Axar Patel are some of the other players to watch out for.
