IPL: Daredevils pin hopes on young guns; release Gambhir, Shami

New Delhi : Making their intentions clear ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction next month, Delhi Daredevils on Thursday retained a young side comprising the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant while releasing big names like Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell and pacer Mohammed Shami.

Besides Gambhir, Maxwell and Shami, Australian quick Dan Christian was also released from the squad while they earlier traded Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem in exchange of Shikhar Dhawan from the Sunrisers Hyderabad side.

Delhi bought local boy Dhawan for Rs 5.2 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad and in return gave them all-rounder Shankar (Rs 3.2 crore), under-19 batsman Abhishek Sharma (Rs 55 lakh) and left-arm spinner Nadeem (Rs 3.2 crore).

Iyer took over Delhi's captaincy from Gambhir midway into the 2018 IPL, after the veteran southpaw decided to step down following another dismal season.

Besides the trio of Iyer, Shaw and Pant, the other retained players in the Delhi squad are: Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Harshal Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Sandeep Lamichhane and Avesh Khan.

Retained list of Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Harshal Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avesh Khan.