Daredevils happy with their catches

Delhi Daredevils came up with a specific requirements and they were fairly successful in fulfilling them.

The Virender Sehwag-led side, armed with full purse of $2 million, went in full steam to bag Mahela Jayawardene for $1.4 and managed to buy all-rounders Andre Russell (West Indies) and Doug Bracewell (New Zealand). 

“We are pleased with the acquisitions at the Player Auction here today and are confident we can be competitive through the season,” said Daredevils Mentor TA Sekar. “Going into the auction, we were very clear that we would strengthen our middle-order batting and look for all-rounders. We are happy to have found what we targeted.”

He said Jayawardene would be a source of strength for the Daredevils middle-order, which had been a bit suspect in the last edition. “There can be no doubt that Mahela will make a difference to the team with his vast experience and his approach. We are delighted that we could add a true blue professional of his stature to our roster.”

Sekar felt that Russell and Bracewell were the quality all-rounders the team was looking for. “We wanted players who could bat explosively in the death overs and give the team four effective overs. We believe Andre and Doug are exciting talent and will live up to our expectations,” he said of the young all-rounders.

The 23-year-old Jamaican Russell has played one Test, 14 one-day internationals and five T20 internationals for the West Indies while Bracewell, 21, has played four Tests, three ODIs and two T20 internationals for New Zealand.

The squad: Indian players: Virender Sehwag (capt), Varun Aaron, Ajit Agarkar, Punit Bisht, Robin Bist, Unmukt Chand, Ashoke Dinda, Manprit Juneja, Vikas Mishra, Yogesh Nagar, Prashant Naik, Shahbaz Nadeem, Pawan Negi, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Venugopal Rao, Kuldeep Raval, Aavishkar Salvi, Tejaswi Yadav and Umesh Yadav.

Overseas players: Travis Birt, Doug Bracewell, Aaron Finch, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Mahela Jayawardene, Morne Morkel, Kevin Pietersen, Andre Russell, David Warner and Roelof van der Merwe.