Delhi Capitals is the side that is most firmly placed in this IPL. They are placed first in the points table bagging 6 victories of the 8 games played. The team seems to be performing really well for the past 3 years by making the playoffs every single time. They were runners-up last time around and will be expecting to go the extra mile this time. With the leadership of Pant under the guidance of Ponting and with Ravi Ashwin leading the pack of bowlers the team is looking solid. Here’s a quick analysis: –
Strengths of the Delhi Capitals: –
The biggest strength of Delhi Capitals, like any other IPL team, is their batting, especially Indian batting. They are loaded with senior players. Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant are their heartbeat. Apart from these, the team has good overseas options in the form of Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, and Shimron Hetmeyer.
Their pace attack also looks sorted with experienced Indian campaigners in Umesh and Ishant. The overseas arsenal has Nortje and the World’s Best Pacer, KG Rabada.
Weakness of the Delhi Capitals: –
The Capitals do not have any such significantly evident weakness. But the position of a leg spinner is questionable. They have the experience of Amit Mishra but he doesn’t seem in his prime. His habit of spraying the ball around leads to leakage of runs in the middle overs. When in his prime, he used to bowl in tandem alongside Ashwin. The Delhiites also lack the element of surprise. Like for instance, Mumbai has Marco Jansen, Bangalore has Shabaz Ahmed but Delhi lacks such a star. Lalit Yadav could be their surprise package but he wasn’t that effective.
Opportunities for Delhi Capitals: –
Shikhar Dhawan is in the form of his life in the T20s. This is definitely his chance to stand up to the grand stage and make a statement with the bat. He would love to dominate this season and get the trophy for Delhi. After getting sacked from the World Cup squad, it is about time that Shikhar answers the selectors.
Another chance is for Ravi Ash to get in the groove for the white-ball formats. With the selectors picking Ashwin in the 15 for the World Cup it is a certainty to see him in the 11. So, maybe he can just try his hand at all the variations.
Threats for the Delhi Capitals: –
The threats for the Capitals are not many since most of the things are working well for them. Just that the team needs to win in crunch situations as these situations then define the game. Also, the team needs to work on its fielding. In the first leg, it was the team that conceded the most runs via miss field.