IPL 2018: Poor team selection affected Delhi Daredevils feels Sunil Gavaskar

Delhi Daredevils have had a very dismal Indian Premier League (IPL) season this year. They lost the plot right at the start of this tournament and never managed to bounce back from thereon. The Delhi side this year looked one of the most balanced squads it has ever had in the IPL thus far. They were expected to do well and yield out better performances.

However, that wasn’t to be the case and turned out to be the exact opposite. Their skipper Gautam Gambhir, who was expected to turn fortunes around resigned from the position after losing five out of the first six games. Later on, Shreyas Iyer took over the responsibilities and managed to get decent results for them. But still, they are currently placed at the bottom of the points table and are out of contentions for the playoffs race.

‘Coach has lesser know-how about the domestic talent pool available to him’

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the DD management for their team selection. That has been the case for them throughout this season. They failed to back their performers and also didn’t give enough opportunities to the younger lot. DD never managed to get their combinations right this season and the current scenarios are an example.

Players like Sandeep Lamichhane and Abhishek Sharma who performed exceptionally well in the limited opportunities they got had to warm the bench for a majority of the season. In his column for Times of India, Sunil Gavaskar points out that the case of poor selection has hurt Delhi quite badly. He further pointed out that their coach, Ricky Ponting had lesser know-how about the domestic talent pool available to him.

“Delhi, of course, are out of it once again mainly due to poor selection of the playing eleven. The problem of having a coach who hasn’t seen the domestic players was evident when young Abhishek Sharma was picked to play after the team was out of the running for the playoffs. The young man showed how he would have fitted right in and though one performance does not mean much, it’s just the attitude and approach that was so refreshing to see and which Delhi could have done with especially when some of their fancied overseas players have been more of a no-show than the big show that they were expected to be,” wrote Gavaskar.

[interaction id=”5afeedbb9aa241b3c86287ec”]

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com.