Aakash Chopra picks his all-time Delhi Capitals (Daredevils) XI in IPL; names Virender Sehwag captain

Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) is one of the only three franchises to have not won the Indian Premier League (IPL) in its 12-year history. The team possessed some of the great players since the inaugural season itself but somehow they couldn’t manage to make it past the semi-finals. Rather, under Virender Sehwag’s leadership, the team had qualified for the semis in the first couple of IPL seasons.

After a slump for a few years, the franchise decided to change its name last year and the Daredevils turned Capitals. With it, their fortunes also changed it seems as the team made it to the playoffs after a long time under Shreyas Iyer‘s captaincy and their investment in the youngsters seem to have paid off. Analysing their performance over the last years and the players who played for them, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has come up with Delhi’s all-time XI.

He has picked Virender Sehwag as the opener of his team and also the skipper for the way he batted during his entire career irrespective of the format. Sehwag boasted of a strike-rate of 160.3 when he played for Delhi franchise and to accompany him at the top, Aakash went with Gautam Gambhir ahead of David Warner. Gambhir played a lot with Sehwag but he was better for the KKR comparatively as a captain and player both.

No Kevin Pietersen in Aakash Chopra’s DC XI

It came as no surprise that Aakash Chopra went with AB de Villiers at number three thanks to the latter’s exceptional batting skills. Though the former South Africa cricketer wasn’t at his best while playing for them. He scored runs at a strike-rate only 117. The next two players to follow De Villiers in the team are the future superstars, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.

Both of them have been brilliant playing for Delhi over the years with Iyer now leading the team as well. Interestingly, the 42-year-old decided not to go with Kevin Pietersen in his team and went with JP Duminy instead at number six. Aakash Chopra felt the batting number would be too low for Pietersen and also cited that he played only 19 matches for the franchise in his IPL career.

While Duminy is a decent spinner as well, Chris Morris is the specialist all-rounder in the team and will bat at number seven. Aakash then included Shahbaz Nadeem and Amit Mishra as the two spinners in the team while Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra made it to the XI as the pacers. The team certainly looks balanced and strong and should give a tough fight to the other sides.

Aakash Chopra’s all-time DC XI: Virender Sehwag (C), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), JP Duminy, Chris Morris, Shahbaz Nadeem, Amit Mishra, Dirk Nannes, Ashish Nehra.