"This is a dream come true for me"- Yash Dhull thanks DC for 'showing faith' in him

India’s latest U-19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull has expressed his gratitude towards the Delhi Capitals for ‘showing faith’ in him after the Rishabh Pant-led franchise claimed the services of the talented teenager for Rs 50 Lakh.

Dhull had thrown his hat in the auction ring at a base price of Rs 20 Lakh, and following a round of bidding with the Punjab Kings, the middle-order batsman was finally claimed by Ricky Ponting’s Delhi.

Following his acquisition by Delhi, Yash released an official statement where he thanked the franchise owners besides stating that it’s a dream come true for him, conserving that he has been a part of Delhi Capitals Bal Bhavan Academy for close to a decade now. 

"Hi Delhi Capitals. Thank you for showing faith in me and selecting me at the auctions. I have been a part of Delhi Capitals Bal Bhavan Academy for 8-9 years. So this is a dream come true for me. I am really excited to join the team and I am ready to give my best,” said Yash Dhull in an official press-release as quoted by ANI.

Having nurtured Dhull in their Academy since his initial years, the Capitals’ interim CEO Vinod Bisht said that the 18-year-old was too big a talent to let go off.

 "Yash has been a talent who has been spotted 4-5 years back since he was a small kid. That time, in the earlier avatar of ours, we always wanted to develop the whole idea of doing grassroots cricket and build stories. This is an outcome of that effort of 5-6 years. When a 14-year-old young talent came up to us, and we supported him at that time, and then he goes on to become the captain of India U-19 team, and wins the World Cup, and is back into our fold." 

 He further stated that Dhull’s acquisition is a continuation of Delhi’s endeavour to develop, encourage local talent, something they had previously done with the likes of Prithvi Shaw, former skipper Shreyas Iyer and current captain, Rishabh Pant.

"This was one talent we could not have allowed to go. The very ethos of saying we develop grassroot talent, we develop talent who can become big and we need to support them in the formative years. That's exactly what we have done. We have done it in the past with Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, and that is a story we want to continue,’’ he added.

Dhull had a brilliant World Cup campaign where he led from the front to the hilt. The young lad smashed a counter-attacking match-winning ton in the semi-final against Australia to become just the third Indian skipper to score a hundred in a knockout game of the Youth WC. He was recently picked in the Delhi squad for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy.