Delhi is really important in Indian cricket. Many famous players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant are from there. They’ve amazed everyone with their skills in international matches.
In the IPL, which is a big cricket league, there are also a lot of Delhi players. Right now, Rishabh Pant is a big name. He’s leading the Delhi Capitals team this season.
Delhi has some really good fast bowlers too, like Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra. Ishant recently made a record by playing in a hundred test matches.
The latest IPL season has started with a match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. It’s going to be exciting, especially to see new talented players like Yash Dhull, who led the Indian U-19 team to victory in 2022. He’s playing for a Delhi team in this IPL.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 players who played from the state of Delhi and appeared in the IPL:
1. Virat Kohli (RCB)
Virat Kohli is like the main person in Indian cricket, just like Sachin Tendulkar. He played for the Delhi team before he started playing for India. He played lots of games in the IPL and scored more runs than anyone else. Virat was in charge of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team for eight years. He’s really good at batting when he’s leading the team. One time, he got the team to the final of the IPL in 2016, but they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
2. Virender Sehwag (DD)
Virender Sehwag played cricket for a team called Delhi Daredevils for a long time. He was the team captain for five years until 2012, when Mahela Jayawardene took over because Sehwag’s team wasn’t doing well.
He played 104 matches in the IPL and scored 2728 runs at a very fast pace. Towards the end of his career, he played a bit for Kings XI Punjab, but he didn’t stay there for too long.
3. Gautam Gambhir (KKR)
Gautam Gambhir was a very dependable player for the Indian cricket team a while back. He started his career playing for Delhi in local tournaments like the Ranji Trophy. Until 2011, he played for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL), led by Virender Sehwag. But then, in 2011, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) signed him up to lead their team.
He stayed with KKR for a long time, around 7 years, and helped them win two IPL seasons. However, in 2018, he went back to Delhi, but only played a few matches. He later mentioned having some disagreements with the team management.
4. Rishabh Pant (DC)
Rishabh Pant started playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL in 2016. He’s now the captain of the team, even though he usually bats at number 5, which is not the usual position for a captain. He got picked for the IPL because he’s really good at batting aggressively. In 2015, he played really well in the Ranji trophy matches for Delhi, scoring lots of runs and helping his team win.
5. Shikhar Dhawan (PBKS)
Since 2008, everyone has been really interested in Shikhar Dhawan, also known as “Gabbar,” in the IPL teams. He started playing for Delhi Daredevils against Rajasthan Royals in 2008. Later, he played for teams like Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and now Punjab Kings.
He spent some time leading Sunrisers Hyderabad in a few seasons. In the IPL, he played 193 matches and scored 5827 runs with a strike rate of 127.
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