One of the strongest and famous team in Indian Premier League, Delhi Daredevils, is Delhi franchise of IPL. The team is owned by GMR group and Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir leads the team. Sandeep Reddy, on behalf of GMR group, bought the franchise for $84 million. Inaugural season of IPL was well for Daredevils.
Almost all the major players of the Daredevils were available for whole tournament except Daniel Vettori. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir took whole responsibility of batting. Majority of foreign players selected were bowlers including Mohammed Asif and Glenn McGrath. Team played really good with a record of 7-6. They won 4 out of their 5 games and grab place in semi-finals. In semis, they lost to Royals by 105 runs.
On 14th July 2008, pace bowler Asif was tested positive for unnamed banned substance. He was banned for the rest of tournament. 2008 IPL season was not bright for Delhi team. In 2009 IPL, they finished on the top of the league but couldn’t make it to the finals.
Injury to Sehwag and poor form of Gambhir didn’t affect the performance of the team in 2009 season. Responsible and sensible play by AB de Villiers and Dilshan helped team to leave mark on league. Hopes of winning the league of Daredevils were scattered by Gilchrist, in Semi-final against Chargers, who made fastest fifty in IPL. Delhi did not meet the requirements for Champions league but their performance in group stage made them eligible for Champions league T20.
Delhi Daredevils made partnership with Eastern Titans, South African domestic team to encourage the young talent of both teams. However, Mcgrath was not seen much in picture in season which creates question mark of his presence in upcoming IPL tournament with Delhi. The anthem “We are fighters” is in the voice of Kailash Kher and it is played in every match on home ground, Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.
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