Hyderabad: The finalists Delhi Capitals suffered a huge blow last year before the start of the Indian Premier League when their regular captain Shreyas Iyer was sidelined with a dislocated shoulder he suffered recently during the ODI series against England. There is still no clarity on when he will return to action.
In addition, their star all-rounder Axar Patel tested positive for Covid-19 a few days ago. The result means he would be out of action for at least two weeks, and would miss the first week of action. The youngster Rishabh Pant has been named as their skipper and all eyes will be on the batsman of the wicketkeeper.
Despite the loss of Iyer’s services for the time being, the team, which turned their fate around after changing from Delhi Daredevils in 2018, has firepower in all departments to go the distance, and last year the last hurdle fell against Mumbai Indians. Their appearance in the final was for them the best result so far.
Also this year, the team promises to put on a good show. With Pant becoming a key player in the Indian team after his heroic deeds in the Test series Down Under and against England in the recent series, he will be full of confidence. Prithvi Shaw, who struggled last season and scored just 228 runs in 13 games at an average lower than 17.53, was in tremendous form. He made history in the domestic season by collecting 827 runs in the recent Vijay Hazare tournament. He scored three 150+ scores, including a double hundred (227 not out).
In addition, Shikhar Dhawan finished a good place last season with KL18 Rahul in the batting list with 618 runs. He also last became the first cricketer to score in the IPL centuries ago.
They have a lot of firepower in Shimron Hetmyer and Marnus Stoinis, while the addition of former Australian skipper Steve Smith and Sam Billings provides more ammunition. Also in the bowling division, they have the second wicket in IPL in Amit Mishra which has 160 wickets to his name. He is ten wickets less than leader Lasith Malinga (160).
With the everyday players Axar, R Aswhin taking care of the turning section and the South African speedsters Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and the new recruits Chris Woakes, together with the Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, keep their pace victim ‘ a major threat to any batting order. With all bases covered, the team from the capital this year is a contender for the title.
Source: Telangana Today