Delhi Daredevils in race to sign Shikhar Dhawan

Delhi Daredevils in race to sign Shikhar Dhawan: Another IPL franchise has showed interest in India’s opening batsman.

The dash to acquire the services of India’s opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan in the upcoming season of the IPL (Indian Premier League) has become cut-throat with the emergence of a new competitor in Delhi Daredevils.

During the IPL auction last year, Kings XI Punjab had bought Dhawan for INR 5.2 crores. In which was a lesser-than-expected price for a current India opener, Sunrisers Hyderabad (who had not retained Dhawan alongside David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar) used their right-to-match card to seal a smart deal.

Standing tall on his reputation, Dhawan finished the competition as Hyderabad’s second-highest run-scorer, 10th highest overall, scoring 497 runs in 16 matches at an average of 38.23 and a strike rate of 136.91, including four half-centuries.

Just when the news of the first trade-off for this IPL season arrived, there were reports of a rift between Dhawan and Sunrisers Hyderabad over the former’s pay-scale. It was said that Dhawan is all in likeliness to move to Mumbai Indians for the next season of the IPL.

Soon after, Kings XI Punjab were reported to be interested in Dhawan, a franchise who had originally bought him in the auction. Apparently, no progress seems to have happened over there as well.

If the fresh set of reports are to be believed, the JSW-Group owned Delhi Daredevils have shown interest in the 32-year old southpaw. It is also said that the franchise is even ready to pay a higher sum of money to bring Dhawan on-board for the next season of the IPL.

If the deal becomes successful, it will be a homecoming for Dhawan after a decade. He had represented Daredevils in the first two seasons of the IPL, scoring 380 runs in 19 matches at an average of 29.23 and a strike rate of 111.76.

Meanwhile, an official from SRH has made public the fact that Dhawan is still a part of their setup. “We’ve not traded Shikhar. We may even keep him, we will see,” an SRH official was quoted as saying to Mumbai Mirror.

Read some of the recent Twitter reactions on Dhawan below: