One of Delhi Daredevils' USP over the first six seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was their connect with the north of India, especially the Capital. The prime reason for that was one man -Virender Sehwag. Win or lose, the crowds always thronged the Feroz Shah Kotla to catch the Daredevils in action.
All that changed last year, when Sehwag was released by the team and replaced by Kevin Pietersen at the helm. Form deserted the team and so did the fans. Going into the auction on Monday, DD has the biggest purse among the franchises. Owners GMR Group went all out to
bring in crowd-puller Yuvraj Singh.
"Yuvraj is a big-match player, phenomenal hitter and a darling of the crowds. If there was one pick we wanted from the auction, it was him. We were prepared to go all out for him at any cost and we're glad that we were able to bring him home," Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua told TOI on Monday.
Delhi, who finished at the bottom of last season, released no less than 13 players and began with a clean slate. Apart from Yuvraj, the big buys for the Daredevils on the day were Angelo Mathews (Rs 7.5 crore), Zaheer Khan (Rs 4 crore) and Amit Mishra (Rs 3.5 crore). "I think we have managed to pick a good crop. Guys like Angelo, Zaheer and Mishra have been around for a long time now. Zaheer will be a good mentor to pacers like Unadkat, Shami and Gurinder Sandhu," Dua said.
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