5 Players DC should release ahead of IPL 2021 season

Delhi Capitals (DC) reached the IPL final for the first time in the 13 years of the tournament. They have impressed everyone with the brand of cricket they’ve displayed this season. The leadership of Shreyas Iyer has evolved after working with World Cup-winning coach Ricky Ponting. However, the road to the final wasn’t an easy one for them. They lost four of their last five league stage matches. Their openers failed to perform for 10 straight matches, while the bowling also started faltering in the latter stages of the tournament. The management would have to make some tough calls after this edition of the league. It is essential that they cover all their weak bases to become a more formidable unit to deal with in the following years. Here are five players DC should let go of for IPL 2021: 1. Ajinkya Rahane Ajinkya Rahane. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Veteran Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane has been around in the league ever since its inception. He has scored 3931 runs in 139 innings at a strike-rate of 121.48 and an average of 31.96. He had represented Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, and Rising Pune Supergiant before joining Delhi ahead of this edition of the Indian Premier League. Rahane has had an extremely disappointing season this time around. He scored 111 runs in seven innings at a below-par strike-rate of 107.77. He was not backed by the management to start in the playing XI. However, Rishabh Pant’s injury meant he got a chance in the playing XI in the seventh match of the season. Apart from a good knock against RCB (60 off 46 balls), he flopped in all the remaining games. He has never been a T20 specialist throughout his career. However, he used to perform consistently at the top of the order every year. This time, he failed to even play the anchor role to perfection. With the Shikhar Dhawan-Marcus Stoinis partnership working out in Qualifier 2, Delhi could consider it as a viable long term option. 2. Harshal Patel Harshal Patel. (Photo: IANS) Haryana captain Harshal Patel was purchased by the Delhi-based franchise for the base price of INR 20 lakh in the 2018 mega auction. Since his debut in 2012, he has taken 46 wickets in 48 matches at an economy rate of 8.74. He had also represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past. He was expected to do well in the IPL, after an amazing season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he scored 374 runs (fourth highest) and took 19 wickets (second highest) in the course of 12 games. However, for Delhi, he could only take three wickets in five matches at an economy of just under nine runs per over. With the bat, his contributions were nothing significant as well- 21 runs in two innings. Patel could not live up to the expectations the management would have had from him after a good domestic season. He failed to create an impact in the limited opportunities he received. 3. Prithvi Shaw Prithvi Shaw. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The talented Mumbai batsman Prithvi Shaw is certainly among the surprise picks in this list. Playing his third season this time, Shaw has scored 826 runs in 38 innings at a strike-rate of just a shade under 140 in his IPL career. After a couple of decent seasons before this one, Shaw was expected to make it big in this edition of the Dream11 Indian Premier League. However, Shaw was just a shadow of himself this season. He scored just 228 runs in 13 innings at an average of 17.54. The worst part about it was that he actually started the season well, scoring 198 runs at a strike-rate of 151 in the first six innings. The decline in form came in the latter half of the tournament, as he scored just 30 more runs in another seven innings. He was extremely susceptible to the moving ball and the short ball. With the opening pair of Dhawan and Stoinis firing in the all-important Qualifier 2, it is highly likely that Delhi can release Shaw and get a more responsible Indian middle-order batsman. The fact that the DC management dropped him for a couple of matches in the league stage and in the Qualifiers goes to show that he might not be a part of the plans in the coming seasons. 4. Mohit Sharma KL Rahul and Mohit Sharma. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Medium-pacer Mohit Sharma made his IPL debut for Chennai Super Kings in 2013. Since then, he has played 86 games and taken 92 wickets at an economy rate of 8.45. Sharma has also represented Kings XI Punjab in his IPL career. Mohit played the first match of this edition of the IPL. However, the returns were highly disappointing- 1/45 in 4 overs in a relatively low-scoring game. Since then, he was not a part of the playing XI in any of the other matches. He did not get a place in the playing XI as the third pacer even after Ishant Sharma got injured. The team preferred giving the likes of Tushar Deshpande, Avesh Khan, and Harshal Patel an opportunity over him for DC. 5. Amit Mishra Amit Mishra. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Experienced leg-spinner Amit Mishra has been a valuable cog in the wheel of the IPL teams he has represented in his career. With 160 wickets in 147 matches at an economy rate of 7.35, he has played ever since the inception of this league. He has played for Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Deccan Chargers throughout his IPL career. Mishra played just three matches this season, where he picked up three wickets at an economy of 7.20. He then sustained an injury to the ring finger of his bowling arm in the match against Knight Riders. He will turn 38 this month, which means that he is clearly not a long term option. While he is still an exceptional bowler, DC would be better off grooming the likes of Praveen Dubey for the coming seasons.

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5 Players DC should release ahead of IPL 2021 season

DC made their maiden IPL final where they lost to MI by five wickets.

4. Mohit Sharma

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