Kiran More, former Indian wicket-keeper batter and former chief selector, had once compared fast-tracking legendary captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni into the national team to a case of gambling on the right horse. Preventing the occurrence of negative perception around gambling, one can’t hide away from the fact that cricket selection, at times, can be quite similar to it.
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Still in search of a maiden Indian Premier League title, Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) had “gambled on the wrong horse” with respect to selecting a player from India’s U-19 World Cup-winning squad right before the inaugural season of what is now the biggest T20 league in the world.
Despite reaching the playoffs on multiple occasions, DC have still not been able to lift the prestigious trophy even once. For the unversed, they had a chance of signing the legendary Virat Kohli, captain of the 2008 U-19 squad, but they ended up taking one of the worst selection decisions in the history of the IPL.
Instead of Kohli, the franchise decided to add pacer Pradeep Sangwan to their arsenal. Never really justifying his potential since his U-19 days, Sangwan’s selection over Kohli would’ve surely hurt the franchise in all these years.
Delhi Capitals Hadn’t Signed Virat Kohli In 2008 Due To This Reason
It is to be noted that BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) had decided to conduct a separate draft for the U-19 players after IPL 2008 auction. Each team had an option of selecting two players with Delhi being the proud owners of the first opportunity. Astonishingly, they not only skipped someone who went on to become arguably the best batter of his era but also let go of a local player.
Former IPL COO, Sundar Raman, was once in conversation with Gaurav Kapoor on 22 Yarns podcast. He revealed that Daredevils’ not signing Kohli was because they already had specialist batters namely Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and AB de Villiers with them.
“Delhi [Daredevils] passed on him [Virat Kohli], actually, and picked Pradeep Sangwan instead, because they said they didn’t need another batsman. And they didn’t actually, they had Virender Sehwag and AB de Villiers. They were right in their thinking, but RCB picked him up and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Funnily enough, while DD paid $50,000 to Sangwan in IPL 2008, Royal Challengers Bangalore secured Kohli’s services for just $30,000. In the hindsight, it wouldn’t be wrong to accept that Delhi weren’t entirely wrong as per their logic.
Apart from the above mentioned trio, the presence of Shikhar Dhawan and Tillakaratne Dilshan among eight specialist batters and all-rounders each would’ve most likely not given a spot in the Playing XI to Kohli unlike what was the case at RCB. Furthermore, one can’t blame the franchise if one of their players didn’t click at all in the long run but the one they left transformed into a modern-day great.
Pradeep Sangwan IPL Career
Sangwan, who couldn’t catch hold of Kohli’s jersey number 18 during the U-19 World Cup, did manage to play for his local franchise ahead of Kohli. In spite of their completely different career trajectories over the years, the duo has managed to remain good friends till now.
Sangwan, who represented DD in the first three IPL seasons, has plied his trade for a total of five franchises thus far. Much like Delhi’s IPL 2010 captain in Gambhir, Sangwan was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a price of INR 20 lakh during IPL 2011 auction.
Having spent another three seasons at KKR for the very same amount, the left-arm bowler wasn’t part of any IPL squad in 2014 and 2015. It was during IPL 2016 auction that a new team in Gujarat Lions bought him for his base price of INR 20 lakh.
Been occasionally representing Delhi in the domestic circuit for almost a decade, Sangwan earned his biggest IPL contract worth INR 1.5 crore at Mumbai Indians. Having played a solitary match for MI in IPL 2018, Sangwan remained unsold again for the subsequent seasons before being picked by another new Gujarat-based franchise named Gujarat Titans during IPL 2022 auction.
Sangwan, who has played only three matches across a couple of seasons for GT, earns INR 20 lakh per season at the moment. Overall, he has scalped 38 wickets in 42 IPL matches at an economy and strike rate of 8.69 and 22.53 respectively.
