Daredevils’ fortunes lie with Gambhir and Ponting

As one of the original IPL franchises, Delhi Daredevils has punched below its weight almost every time. New chief coach Ricky Ponting, after a lengthy stint with Mumbai Indians, seems keen to change the course this time around.

The staff is new, the players a mix of old and new and, most importantly, the team seems to mean business.

Ponting came in after Rahul Dravid stepped down.

New team management

With Zaheer Khan not around and T.A. Sekar moving on as the fast bowling coach, Delhi has a whole new team management to handle on-field responsibilities.

The team retained its full quota of three players — Rishabh Pant, at ₹15cr, the most expensive buy in the side — along with Shreyas Iyer and Chris Morris.

But it also played smart, building a decent bowling arsenal that, incidentally, has most of its former players returning to the fold at lower prices.

Mixed response

But the schedule, revised repeatedly, has evoked mixed response from the side.

DD plays its first five games away — the maximum by any side.

While it does put the team’s hopes of a good start in a tight situation, Ponting has stressed on making the most of it, gauging the opposition well before playing out the final stretch at home.

Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Shami were expected to team up in the pace department, along with Morris, but the franchise has been left desperately re-working its plans after the fiery South African youngster was ruled out with injury on Thursday.

Rabada, who had built up a reputation following the Test series against Australia, was diagnosed with a lower back stress reaction, ruling him out of action for up to three months, Cricket South Africa said.

With the team playing its tournament opener on Sunday in Mohali, Delhi hardly has time to seek and fly in a replacement with the team management still undecided on Thursday evening.

Shami, on the other hand, has had personal troubles.

Spin department

Seasoned Amit Mishra and youngsters Jayant Yadav and Shahbaz Nadeem would handle the spin department, like the previous edition.

Batting is good but...

The batting has been shored up but still remains weaker of the two. Jason Roy, Daniel Christian and Glenn Maxwell can all clear the rope but lack consistency.

Shreyas and Gurkeerat need to step up, while Manjot Kalra and the prodigious Prithvi Shaw continue the tradition of grooming youngsters.

Delhi would also be hoping 17-year old Sandeep Lamichhane, the first Nepalese ever in the IPL, would be its very own Rashid Khan.

The key to the team’s performance, however, would rest with two veterans — while Ponting would be planning strategies off the field, the actual execution would lie with captain Gautam Gambhir, the Delhi boy returning to his roots as one of the most successful leaders in the IPL.

He has lifted the trophy twice with KKR while keeping his own impressive numbers intact. His aggression, combined with Ponting’s desire to win, would be the two pillars to prop up DD this year.