IPL 2020 Team Preview: Does Delhi Capitals Have The Balance And Depth In Squad To Clinch Maiden IPL Title

IPL 2020, Delhi Capitals Team Preview: The revival in Delhi Capital's dwindling IPL fortunes has largely come at the back of the performance of its core group of Indian players and under Shryeas Iyer who took over the mantle-ship of the captaincy from Gautam Gambhir midway in the 2018 IPL season.

Delhi Capitals Opener Shikhar Dhawan (Image: AFP/Getty)

Delhi Capitals (DC) have been one of the underachievers in the history of the Indian Premier League despite boasting of some of the finest exponent of the shorter format in Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen, Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Shikhar Dhawan over the 12 editions of the IPL. Delhi Capitals who eventually ended a spree of seasons languishing at the bottom of the table by making it to the play-offs in the last edition of the tournament, would like to go a step further and win their maiden IPL title. Delhi are one of the three teams other than Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kings Eleven Punjab (KXIP) to have never won the IPL. The revival in Delhi Capital's dwindling IPL fortunes has largely come at the back of the performance of its core group of Indian players and under Shryeas Iyer who took over the mantle-ship of the captaincy from Gautam Gambhir midway in the 2018 IPL season. It will also be interesting to see how the Delhi Capitals contingent gets mentored under the aegis of former Australian skipper and batting great Ricky Ponting who will don the coach's hat for the franchise in the thirteenth edition of the league. Delhi Capitals will once again bank up the services of its Indian batsmen in Shikhar Dhawan (521), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw (353) and Rishabh Pant (468) who did bulk of the scoring in the last edition of IPL. However, they will also like their international imports in Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmeyer and Alex Carey to make handy contributions; who all have proven their pedigree in the foreign T20 leagues but are yet to make an impact in the IPL. While the team will look to their pugnacious openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw to get them off to fliers up the order, they have plenty of firepower in the middle order with power-hitters in Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer who can turn around games with those cameos and whirlwind knocks. DC would take heart from the fact that both Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis come into IPL 13 on the back of a highly successful campaigns in the CPL and BBL respectively. Roping in the technically sound Ajinkya Rahane from Rajasthan Royals gives Delhi Capitals more options to play around with in their batting order. Rahane can play the opener's role and can also be in ticking the scoreboard in the middle order. The squad has good depth and balance with all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis, Keemo Paul and Axar Patel who can chip in meaningfully with both the willow and red cherry. With the low and slow turning tracks in the UAE conducive to spin bowling, Delhi Capitals have a strong spin attack with the inclusion of ace off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in their squad making the armoury even more potent. Seasoned spinner Amit Mishra has been an exceptional performer with the ball for Delhi Capitals over the years and has been the second highest wicket taker in the history of the IPL. They also have Axar Patel and the Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamichhane who are clever tweakers in the shorter format of the game. The seam bowling will be once again be spearheaded by South African speedster Kagiso Rabada who has been impressive in the IPL with his wicket taking prowess. Delhi's very own Ishant Sharma has been a perennial workhorse and they have medium pacer Mohit Sharma who is a clever customer with his bagful of variations. With a fine semblance of Indian and foreign T20 stalwarts, if all cogs in the wheel fit in well, Delhi could well replicate their efforts of the last season and be a strong contenders to make the playoffs once again and make an earnest attempt at lifting their maiden IPL title. Delhi Capitals (Formerly Delhi Daredevils) Track Record In The IPL 2008 – Fourth 2009 – Third 2010 – Fifth 2011 – 10th 2012 – Playoffs (Third) 2013 – Ninth 2014 – Eighth 2015 – Seventh 2016 – Sixth 2017 – Sixth 2018 – Eighth 2019 – Playoffs (Third) DELHI CAPITALS SQUAD Indian players – Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande Foreign players – Shimron Hetmyer, Daniel Sams, Keemo Paul, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane