Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has criticized Delhi Capitals’ strategy in the IPL 2022 auction as he feels the franchise did wrong by not identifying the right overseas players. Delhi picked only 7 overseas players in place of 8 and now they are going to struggle as some of them will not be available for selection in the opening matches.
Proteas pacer Enrique Nortje has not recovered from injury and is likely to be ruled out of the upcoming season. While their new recruits David Warner and Mitchell Marsh will not be available for the opening matches as they will be in Pakistan for the current tour. Both of them will join Delhi Capitals from April 6.
Jaffer feels that the current Delhi Capitals looks inferior to his team of the last two years.
“Delhi Capitals got it wrong with their strategy in the auction. They should have kept the international series in mind while selecting the players. He picked only seven foreign cricketers when the maximum limit was 8. It’s not the same DC side as the last two years. Maybe Mandeep Singh or Yash Dhul could have opened. Sarfaraz Khan could have batted at 3. He will have to make a lot of adjustments to find the best combination,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.
The veteran opener further questioned Delhi’s strategy of not picking up Ravichandran Ashwin and Shikhar Dhawan in the auction.
“They have taken Kuldeep Yadav, but on the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin has been released. Earlier he had Amit Mishra, now what should he do with Praveen Dubey and Lalit Yadav. In batting he has released Shikhar Dhawan. Kiya and Yash Dhul, Mandeep Singh and Shrikar chose India.
Delhi also released their former captain Shreyas Iyer ahead of the auction as the stylish batsman wanted a captaincy role in the team but the management picked Rishabh Pant as their pick. Iyer was a key force in Delhi’s middle order for the past several years and Jaffer feels it will be very difficult for Delhi to replace him.
“There is only one Shreyas Iyer, which is why he was sold for ₹12.25 crore. Sarfaraz cannot take his place. On paper, the players are promising but the pedigree is not there with Dhawan, Iyer and Ashwin gone,” he said.
However, Jaffer feels that this will be a good opportunity for the youth to perform on the big stage.
“Not the quality before. But with the joining of two teams, more youngsters will get a chance to play. It will be beneficial for them. Sarfaraz Khan is in excellent form. He and some other players will take advantage of this opportunity.”
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