The Delhi Capitals roped in Australian batsman Steve Smith for their first buy in the Indian Premier League 2021 Auctions in Chennai. The DC bought Smith for INR 2.2 crore.
Steve Smith was released by the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2021 IPL auction. Smith, who was the captain of thee Royals, was replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson for the role.
The current top-4 in the Delhi Capitals batting order are Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. With Smith arriving in the side, the DC faces a happy headache for the top-4 positions in the lineup.
Smith has appeared in 95 matches in his IPL career, scoring 2,333 runs in the tournament at a strike-rate of 129.25.
In the last season, however, Smith's performances for the Royals had been underwhelming. In 13 matches for the side, Smith had scored 311 matches with a highest score of 69.
Smith has also represented the Rising Pune Supergiants in the tournament.
Here's the DC squad as of now:
Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Daniel Sams, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes
Bought Player: Steve Smith