IPL 12 Delhi Daredevils (DD) Team, Squad, Players, Captain, History, Owners, Facts, Records, Jersey, Bowlers, Batsman, Logo and Team Identity
The 2018 edition of the Delhi Daredevils will contend in the IPL in the hopes of getting back into the playoffs. The team finished in sixth this past season and is hoping to get back in. The team has struggled to get back into the playoffs since 2012 when they finished in third place.
Gautam Gambhir is the new captain of the team. A batsman, he competed with the Kolkata Knight Riders for seven seasons. He has been a part of India’s national team since 1999 and has played in more than fifty test matches. He was the top-ranked batsman in the world in test matches in 2009. Batsman Sheryas Iyer and all-rounder Chris Morris are among the other stars on the side. Rishabh Pant, one of the rising wicket-keepers in the IPL, is also expected to be a major factor for the Daredevils in 2018.
Ricky Ponting will be the manager of the team. Ponting is a former batsman who competed for the Tasmanian team in Australia for nearly twenty years and is hoping to move the team forward.
| Player | Role | Sold Price (in lakh) | Country |
| Rishabh Pant | Wicket-keeper | 1500 | India |
| Chris Morris | All-rounder | 1100 | South Africa |
| Glenn Maxwell | All-rounder | 900 | Australia |
| Sheryas Iyer | Batsman | 700 | India |
| Kagiso Rabada | Bowler | 420 | South Africa |
| Amit Mishra | Bowler | 400 | India |
| Shahbaz Nadeem | Bowler | 320 | India |
| Vijay Shankar | All-rounder | 320 | India |
| Rahul Tewatia | All-rounder | 300 | India |
| Mohammed Shami | Bowler | 300 | India |
| Gautam Gambhir | Batsman | 280 | India |
| Trent Boult | Bowler | 220 | New Zealand |
| Colin Munro | All-rounder | 190 | New Zealand |
| Jason Roy | Batsman | 150 | England |
| Daniel Christian | All-rounder | 150 | Australia |
| Naman Ojha | Wicket-keeper | 140 | India |
| Prithvi Shaw | Batsman | 120 | India |
2017 History
The 2017 season was a difficult time for the Delhi Daredevils as the team had struggles with trying to contend due to injuries and ineffectiveness:
- The team finished in sixth place with a 6-8 record. The team was unable to make the playoffs that year.
- Zaheer Khan, the team’s captain, went out with an injury midway through the season. Karun Nair replaced him as the captain midway due to the injury.
- The team had some big wins against Delhi and Punjab at the beginning of the year. The team’s win against Delhi was by 97 runs.
- It became increasingly difficult for the team to move forward as the season moved along. The team lost a match to Mumbai by 146 runs. This marked the largest margin of defeat by runs in the IPL’s history.
- The team had a net run rate of -0.512. This was the second-worst NRR of the season
- Paddy Upton had served as the manager for the team. This was his second season with the team, but he was not retained the following season.
IPL 2017
The 2017 Delhi Daredevils are aiming to catch up and get back into the playoffs. The team has not reached the playoffs since 2012. The team is aiming to move forward and become a bigger player in the IPL. The team did experience a substantial improvement in 2016 by going .500 but the team has a bigger goal of moving forward.
Players
The 2017 Delhi Daredevils include a number of talented players including the following:
- Chris Morris is a bowling all-rounder with a right-arm medium-fast bowling style. A native of Pretoria, South Africa, Morris is the highest-paid member of the team with a Rs. 70 million salary. He competed in two test matches for South Africa in 2016 where he scored 98 runs with a 32.66 batting average.
- Sanju Samson is a wicket keeper with a right-hand batting style. He has competed in IPL since 2012 and was the vice-captain for India’s U19 team in 2013.
- Carlos Brathwaite is a native of Barbados who is a bowling all-rounder. He was the captain of the West Indies Twenty20 International team in 2016. He was one of the most in-demand all-rounders in recent time as he was acquired at an auction for Rs. 4.2 crore.
- Mohammed Shami is the key bowler for the team. A former star with the Kolkata Knight Riders, Shami has rolled thousands of balls in test matches for India as well as ODIs. He attained two five-wicket hauls in test matches in his career. This includes a 5/112 performance against Australia in 2015.
As with other teams throughout the IPL, the team consists of predominantly players from India. The team has five overseas players. This comes as a part of limits on how many overseas players teams within the league are allowed to have.
A vast majority of the players on the team are also ones that have been around for a rather short period of time. Much of the turnover comes from how the team has been aiming to try and get back into some sort of competitive form. There are a few players who have been with the team since 2014 though. Batsman JP Duminy, all-rounder Jayant Yadav and bowel Shabaz Nadeem have been with the team since 2014.
Captains
The Delhi Daredevils have had a number of captains in the team’s history:
- Virender Sehwag was the captain from 2008 to 2012. He holds the international record for the fastest test triple century with 278 balls. He also holds the Indian record for 16,119 runs as an opener in international play. He is also the first Indian batsman to have attained a test triple century.
- There has not been any particular security in terms of being the Daredevils’ team captain since Sehwag left the team. Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen and Jean Paul Duminy all held the captaincy for one year each.
- Zaheer Khan is the captain of Delhi in 2017 (he was captain in 2016 also). He focused on domestic cricket that year as he had retired from international play after nearly fifteen years in the sport. He has played in more than ninety test matches for India.
There has not been any remark as to who the captain for the 2017 season will be. This is as of February 2017. The team continues to rebuild and has gotten a number of star players over time although it is unclear as to who would end up being the key captain in the coming year.
Coach
For the 2017 season, Paddy Upton is the official coach of the Daredevils. Upton is a native of South Africa who played for the Western Province cricket team throughout much of the 1990s. He has studied Indian philosophy over the years and has gone through an extensive period of self-discovery based on Indian principles.
T.A. Sekhar is the bowling coach for the team. Sekhar was noted for being one of the fastest bowlers in India in the 1980s. However, he only played in two test matches and four ODIs during his career. He has been noted for his unique style of teaching and to help with improving upon conditioning of bowlers on the team. This is to help them improve upon how well they are able to complete all kinds of moves on the pitch.
History
The Delhi Daredevils started play in 2008 as the IPL first opened up. The team started out as a powerful entity in the league as they reached the semifinals in 2008 and 2009. However, the Daredevils have struggled to compete well as they have reached the playoffs just once since. The team reached the playoffs in 2012 and has reached .500 or better just once since then.
The team has gotten a number of famous players over the years. Glenn McGrath, a famed pace bowler, was part of the team in its early years. Jeremy Snape was also hired as a member of the team’s support staff for a period of time.
The team has also spent a good deal of money on many players over time. This is thanks in part to the deep pockets of the team’s owners. The team paid Rs. 16 crore for Yuvraj Singh in 2016 as well as Angelo Mathews for Rs. 7.5 crore.
Fans have become happier with the team in recent years. Although the team has not reached the playoffs in recent time, fans feel that they have made some major turns in terms of their performance. They are especially excited over how the team has continued to thrive and develop over the years.
Owners
GMR Group is the owners of the Delhi Daredevils. GMR is a Bengaluru-based company that focuses on infrastructure projects all around India. The group particularly built the Rajiv Gandhi airport in Hyderabad and the Sabiha Gokcen airport in Turkey. The business has evolved to work on many highway projects around India. These include many highways that are around 100 km or longer.
GMR runs the Delhi Daredevils as a means of diversifying the company’s portfolio of investments. The business has especially focused on spending more to acquire quality players through auctions. The business has a massive amount of revenue every year, thus making it easier for the business to spend on the team. In particular, GMR paid about $84 million on the Daredevils in 2008.
Facts
- The Daredevils are simply referred to as DD in many places. There isn’t much of an explanation as to why the team got the Daredevils name. However, the name fits in well for promoting the sport in Delhi.
- Grandhi Mallikarijuna Rao has operated GMR since it started and has continued to remain visible at a number of Daredevils matches. Rao has become popular for being friendly to fans and is very charitable. The work from Rao has helped make the Daredevils one of the most popular and approved-of brands in the league today.
- Like with many other teams, the Daredevils have both a coach and a mentor. For 2017, Paddy Upton is the coach while Rahul Dravid is the mentor. Dravid has competed in more than 160 test matches for India throughout his extensive career.
- Although the team has a strong presence in IPL and continues to be beloved by many of its fans, the team has not won any IPL seasons or CLT20 seasons. Even with this in mind, the team continues to be a popular name.
Stadium
The Daredevils play in one of the most famous cricket stadiums in India. They play at the Feroz Shah Kolta Ground. The ground was founded in 1883 and has been renovated and expanded upon over the years to fit more than 40,000 people.
The stadium has become noteworthy for being a successful place for India’s test cricket team. India’s cricket team has not lost a test match at this ground in more than 25 years. The team has also won all its ODI matches here over the past ten years.
The team also plays in Raipur at the SVNS International Cricket Stadium. This is used in cases where the team is unable to get access to their regular stadium due to other events taking place there. This stadium is a little larger in size though, thus making it easier for the team to pack in more fans during some of the more high-profile matches throughout the season. These include matches where the stakes might be a little higher for the team.
Records
Although the Delhi Daredevils are a popular team in the city, they have struggled to get a foothold on the standings around the IPL. The team has played 125 matches and has s 52-70 record.
The best record for the Daredevils came in 2009 when the team went 10-4 for the best regular season record. In spite of this, the team lost by six wickets to the Deccan Chargers, the eventual champion, in the playoffs. It should be noted that the season took place in South Africa. The team did not have a set home stadium although most of the games that year were held in Durban and Centurion.
The team also competed in the 2009 and 2012 CLT20 events. In 2012, the Daredevils reached the semifinal stage with a 2-1-2 record. The team won its stage that included the Kolkata Knight Riders and South Africa’s Titans. The Daredevils lost by 22 runs to the Highveld Lions of South Africa, who eventually lost the final to the Sydney Sixers from Australia.
Jersey
The Delhi Daredevils wear a jersey that features a blue and orange color. Shiv Naresh is the official manufacturer of the kit. Adidas and Flying Machine have made jerseys for the team in the past.
Daikin is the main sponsor for the jersey. The company has been working since 2015 as the key sponsor. The Japanese electrical equipment company has been a key manufacturer of air conditioners and has worked with Carrier to develop various refrigerant products.
Manforce is the main sponsor for the back part of the team’s jersey. Manforce is a locally-based pharmaceutical company which makes an assortment of medications. Adiction Deodorant and AcneStar products are among the most popular items that the company has for sale.
Logo and Team Identity
The Daredevils’ logo features a swirling orange and yellow tone with a blue text-based logo on it. These colors match up with the logo for GMR. This improves upon the overall corporate relationship between the Daredevils and GMR. The logo does not appear to have any particular shape although the Daredevils name is popular for how it offers a sense of alliteration.
Ambassadors
Akshay Kumar was hired as the team’s first ambassador in 2008. He left in 2009 due to his tight schedule in acting. However, he has been seen at a number of Daredevils matches over the years.
Singer Kailash Kher has become a big ambassador to the team in recent time. Kher sings “Khel Front Foot Pe,” the team’s official anthem. The song, which is about playing as hard as possible, is always played at the start of each match.
Some additional songs have been recorded by other team ambassadors over the years. Sukhwinder Singh recorded the most recent one of these songs, performing “Dhuandaar Dilli” in 2016.
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