DC’s first-ever playing XI in IPL: Where are they now?

Delhi Capitals who used to be Delhi Daredevils earlier were always considered an underperformed franchise till they got re-branded. They are playing Indian Premier League from the very first season in 2008. From a few seasons, DC is doing well and they have built a strong team. They have retained Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, and Anrich Nortje ahead of the mega auction 2022.

They have had legends like Virender Sehwag, AB de Villiers, David Warner, and Zaheer Khan in their squads. In the first three seasons, DC managed to reach the playoffs but 2020 was the first time they got featured in an IPL final. They are yet to win a title and they will try their best to win it in the coming seasons. They have had invested in young talents.

Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) played their first IPL game against Rajasthan Royals on 19^th April 2008. They won the game convincingly by nine wickets. Rajasthan Royals took their revenge in the semi-finals when they thrashed DC by a huge margin. There were some names that can be surprising now for a few people. Let’s decode who were there when Delhi Daredevils played their first-ever game.

DC’s first-ever playing XI and their current status

1. Gautam Gambhir

The Delhi southpaw was a part of DC’s first IPL XI. He had an amazing season playing for DC in 2008. He was the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament scoring 534 runs in 14 games. In DC’s first game he scored 58 runs off 26 balls hitting seven fours and a six. He played for DC for the first three seasons then he again made a comeback in 2018 which was his last season in IPL.

Apart from Delhi, he was a part of KKR from 2011 to 2017. He also captained KKR for seven seasons and made them win two IPL trophies (2012 and 2014). He played international cricket for India from 2003 to 2016.

He announced his retirement from all forms of the game in December 2018. He joined Bhartiya Janta Party in 2019. Currently, he is a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) since 2019 and is associated with sports channels as a cricket expert and analyst.