Delhi Daredevils were the first team to be eliminated this season. (Source: BCCI)
The round robin stages of Indian Premier League season 2018 have come to an end and the stage is set for the Playoffs. For Delhi Daredevils, the season was one of further disappointment. The franchise went all guns blazing at the auction to bring back two-time IPL winning captain Gautam Gambhir back to the squad. But the former KKR skipper relieved himself from captaincy, and even playing duties in the middle of the season, and DD finished in the eighth position of the table. A couple of victories in the final two games gave DD a respectable total of 10 points in 14 games – the highest for any side finishing in the last position in all of 10 seasons. But to put into perspective, it is the sixth year in a row that the side has failed to make it through the playoffs.
What worked against Delhi Daredevils
While writing about Delhi Daredevils in an opinion piece for Times of India, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar hit the nail on the head. “The problem of having a coach who hasn’t seen the domestic players was evident when young Abhishek Sharma was picked to play after the team was out of the running for the play-offs,” he wrote. The experience of Ricky Ponting as head coach helped the talented youngsters such as Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw. But at the same time, the domestic talent missed out on several opportunities in favour of big foreign names, who completely bombed, such as Glenn Maxwell.
The statistics back the argument – Maxwell scored a total of 169 runs at an average of 14.08 in 12 games. Harshal Patel played five games, and scored 60 runs in total at an average of 60; Abhishek Sharma scored 63 runs in three games; Manjot Kalra did not even get a single game for DD. Maxwell’s strike rate (140.83) is also lower than Sharma (181.81) and Patel (190.90). Things could have been completely different, in case there were more opportunities available for the Indian talent at disposal. Ponting was quick to praise the “outstanding” Indian players at the press conference after defeating Mumbai Indians in the final round robin game. “We can’t blame the Indian players, they have been outstanding, we can’t complain,” he said.
Another mistake committed by DD was at the auction – the franchise invested in too many opening batsmen. Gambhir, Pant, Colin Munro, Jason Roy, Shreyas Iyer, Shaw, Kalra have all opened before. It left their middle order vulnerable, and in the end, DD once again tried too many changes in the top and middle order. In two games, Maxwell was sent out to open, in which he scored 2 and 22. The experiment clearly did not work.
The decision to shower the captaincy responsibilities on a youngster also hurt the side as it affected Iyer’s batting. DD need to get a big player under whom the side can rally behind, just like Kane Williamson for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
What worked for Delhi Daredevils
After Delhi Daredevils were eliminated from the tournament, coach Ricky Ponting decided to test his bench strength which revealed some fantastic players in DD’s arsenal. Harshal Patel impressed with his allround performance, and Nepal bowler Sandeep Lamichhane became a regular wicket-taker in their possession. The little experiments in the final few games ensured DD finish the season on a winning note, defeating Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in their last two matches.
Standout performers
Rishabh Pant, who scored 684 runs in the season, finished the round robin stage with the Orange Cap. He impressed with his range of shots in the middle order, and scored five fifties and a hundred this season. He became the one-man army for DD, and his strike rate of 173.60 and average of 52.61 became a troubling factor for the opposition. In terms of bowling, Trent Boult became the leading figure for the side. He took 18 wickets in the season at an average of 25.88. Lamichhane, only played three games, but also impressed as he took five wickets at an average of 16.40 and a tremendous economy rate of 6.83.
League stage performance: 5 wins, 9 defeats, 10 points (eighth place)