What are Delhi's plans to get past their knock-out barrier?

Delhi Capitals (Source: iplt20.com)

At the beginning of every IPL season, Delhi Capitals are peached as one of the contenders for the title. But in the last 15 years, Delhi has been one of the most underperforming teams having not won the trophy even once, despite assembling a good squad every time. 

Just like other IPL franchises Delhi has also given out their retention list for the next IPL. Let  us have a look at the players they have released at first. 

Released Players: Shardul Thakur, Tim Seifert, Ashwin Hebbar, KS Bharat, Mandeep Singh

Purse remaining: INR 19.45 crore

Overseas slots remaining: 2

The next step to find out about the current chemistry of the team we need to take a look at the players that have been retained by the team

Batters

Rishabh Pant (INR 16 Cr), David Warner (INR 6.25 Cr), Prithvi Shaw (INR 7.5 Cr), Yash Dhull (INR 50 Lakhs), Rovman Powell (INR 2.8 Cr), Sarfraz Khan (INR 20 Lakhs).

Average Price: INR 5.54 Cr

All Rounders

Ripal Patel (INR 20 Lakhs), Mitchell Marsh (INR 6.5 Cr), Lalit Yadav (INR 65 Lakhs), Aman Khan (INR 20 Lakhs), Axar Patel (INR 9 Cr). 

Average Price: INR 3.48 Cr

Bowlers

Anrich Nortje (INR 6.5 Cr), Chetan Sakariya (INR 4.2 Cr), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (INR 1.1 Cr), Khaleel Ahmed (INR 5.25 Cr), Lungi Ngidi (INR 50 Lakh), Mustafizur Rahman (INR 2 Cr), Praveen Dubey (INR 50 Lakhs), Vicky Ostwal (INR 20 Lakhs).

Average Price: INR 2.53 Cr

Slots to be filled

If we and try to build an eleven from the retained players list, it would look like

1. David Warner (O)
2. Prithvi Shaw
3. Mitchell Marsh (O)
4. Rishabh Pant (C) (WK)
5. Sarfraz Khan
6. Axar Patel
7. Lalit Yadav
8. Chetan Sakariya
9. Lungi Nigidi (O)
10. Anrich Nortje
11. Khaleel Ahmed

Form the eleven that we get out of the retained players, the biggest miss looks like the absence of a spinner barring Axar Patel. They need a good spinner who could be slotted into the eleven and also at least one more as the back up. 

Besides spinners, Capitals night also need a quality Indian middle order batter. This player could be slotted in as per the requirement or can act as a proper back up of the team. 

Target Players: 

Delhi can go after a premier spinner like Adam Zampa or Adil Rashid. But again their inclusion will bring in the dilemma regarding the overseas spot in the final eleven. 

Another good target could be Shreyas Gopal, who can bowl a few overs of spin and also bat lower down the order. 

Apart from this the Capitals can look at Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg as the option for middle order batter. 

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