Sportsnob – Critics Corner

After previewing the two finalists, it is now the turn of the semifinalists and we look at the Delhi Daredevils in this third edition 

Team: Delhi Daredevils  

Captain: Virender Sehwag 

 Coach: Greg Shipperd (Australia) 

 Trump Card: Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir 

X-Factor: Glenn McGrath  

Whats changed from last season: The addition of some explosive batsman like David Warner and Owais Shah. Mohammed Asif is out thanks to his own stupidity, and of course the fact that he is from Pakistan.  

The Batting:  

To say that the Delhi batting line up is strong is a huge understatement. Not only do they have the best opening pair in the world, but also have a fabulous mix of explosive and solid batsman. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were sensational in the first edition of the IPL, getting the team off to good starts in almost every single game.  Since then the going has gotten even better for the duo as they have emerged as one of India’s best opening pairs. Gambhir is no longer in Sehwag’s shadow and has become a match winner in his own right. It’s quite safe to say that he has been India’s best batsman over the past 18 months in all three versions of the game.   Following the Delhi natives, the Daredevils have a good lot of overseas batsman to choose from – starting from David Warner, a master stroke signing considering they got him before he made his debut for Australia, to the English duo of Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood, to AB De Villiers.

Every single batsman is capable of making big runs at a good pace and what’s even better for the Daredevils is that they will all thrive in the South African conditions. Whats more, AB De Villiers is probably in the form of his life at the moment and should start every single match. Add to the mix batsmen like Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary and Tilekaratne Dilshan and you have all the makings of a brilliant batting line up. And let’s not forget the fact that Daniel Vettori is now an established batsman in his own right.   

The Bowling: 

 Compared to the batting, the bowling looks weak and very dependent on a 40 year old who comes off a traumatic year. Glenn McGrath hasn’t bowled a delivery in over 12 months and lost his wife to cancer over the course of the year. Though there is no doubting his professionalism, you just have to wonder if this might be one challenge too many for him. (my gut tells me he will come out on tops again) but there is going to be a lot of pressure on him. Delhi will definitely miss Mohammed Asif (much like Pakistan) and sharing the new ball with McGrath will be the likes of Yo Mahesh, Pradeep Sangwan and Fervez Maharoof. The youngster Sangwan should get a few games considering his left arm medium seamers will add variety to the bowling attack. 

It’s also interesting to note that the Daredevils have two of Indian cricket’s forgotten pacement – Ashish Nehra and Avishkar Salvi. Whether these two will make any sort of impact remains to be seen. The two other pace bowlers in the line up are the Australians Andrew McDonald (who did reasonably well against the South Africans) and Dirk Nannes who are there on the recommendation of the team’s Australian coach Greg Shipperd. The spin department will be handled by Amit Mishra and Daniel Vettori, and it is very likely that both of them will get many games given the rest of the bowling line up. 

  Overall, the Delhi Daredevils look a good squad easily capable of making the semifinals. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Virender Sehwag captains the side – he received a lot of criticism for his lacklustre captaincy during the second test against New Zealand and will be looking to prove a few men wrong. The batting looks brilliant and capable of putting enough runs on the board for the bowling line up to defend. A lot is riding on the shoulders of Glenn McGrath but if past records are anything to go by, Delhi are in very safe hands. The interesting thing about the Delhi squad is the sheer number of foreigners in the line up – a total of 10 (by far the maximum). They are only allowed to play 4 in every game and AB De Villiers and Glenn McGrath will be absolute certainities. How the team manages the other foreigners will be interesting to watch.  

The squad:  

The Indians: Virender Sehwag, Rajat Bhatia, Dinesh Karthik, Yo Mahesh, Mithun Manhas, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Aavishkar Salvi, Pradeep Sangwan, Manoj Tiwary  

The Unknowns: Yogesh Nagar, Tejashwi Yadav and Umesh Yadav 

 The Foreigners: Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah (England) Glenn McGrath, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Andrew McDonald (Australia), Tilekratne Dilshan, Fervez Maharaoof (Sri Lanka), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) AB De Villiers (South Africa)