Delhi Capitals will aim to build on the success of IPL 2020, where they finished runners-up, as they look to land their maiden IPL title.
Delhi were rocked by injury to Captain Shreyas Iyer, but the in-form Rishabh Pant is capable of leading the team to the title on his own.
A solid batting line-up coupled with a potent pace attack and experienced spinners makes Delhi Capitals strong title contenders.
Squad:
| Age | Bats | Bowls | Role | IPL games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rishabh Pant | 23 | Left-handed | Captain/'keeper | 68 | |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 35 | Left-handed | Right-arm off-break | Batsman | 176 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 32 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Batsman | 149 |
| Steve Smith | 31 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg-break | Batsman | 95 |
| Prithvi Shaw | 21 | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | Batsman | 38 |
| Shimron Hetmyer | 24 | Left-handed | Right-arm leg-break | Batsman | 17 |
| Sam Billings | 29 | Right-handed | Wicket-keeper | 22 | |
| Vishnu Vinod | 27 | Right-handed | Wicket-keeper | 3 | |
| Marcus Stoinis | 31 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | All-rounder | 46 |
| Chris Woakes | 32 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | All-rounder | 18 |
| Ripal Patel | 25 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | All-rounder | 0 |
| Lalit Yadav | 24 | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | All-rounder | 0 |
| Umesh Yadav | 33 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 121 |
| Ishant Sharma | 32 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 90 |
| Kagiso Rabada | 25 | Left-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 35 |
| Anrich Nortje | 27 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 16 |
| Tom Curran | 26 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 10 |
| Avesh Khan | 24 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 9 |
| Lukman Meriwala | 29 | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | Bowler | 0 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 34 | Right-handed | Right-arm off-break | Bowler | 154 |
| Amit Mishra | 38 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg-break | Bowler | 150 |
| Axar Patel | 27 | Left-handed | Left-arm spin | Bowler | 97 |
| Praveen Dubey | 27 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg-break | Bowler | 3 |
| Manimaran Siddharth | 22 | Right-handed | Left-arm spin | Bowler | 0 |
Note: The players in bold are overseas players
Shreyas Iyer had to withdraw because of a shoulder injury
Players bought at this year's IPL auction:
Steve Smith
Sam Billings
Vishnu Vinod
Ripal Patel
Umesh Yadav
Tom Curran
Lukman Meriwala
Manimaran Siddharth
Overall win-loss record in IPL:
| Played | Won | Lost | No Result | Win% | W/L ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 194 | 86 | 106 | 2 | 44.33 | 0.81 |
Note: The win/loss tally includes results in Super Over after a tie
Delhi Capitals have gone from strength to strength in the last few years -- finishing third in 2019 before finishing runners up last year to Mumbai Indians.
Best finish in IPL: Runner-up in 2020
How they fared in each edition:
| Year | Position |
|---|---|
| 2008 | SF |
| 2009 | SF |
| 2010 | 5th |
| 2011 | 10th |
| 2012 | 3rd |
| 2013 | 9th |
| 2014 | 8th |
| 2015 | 7th |
| 2016 | 6th |
| 2017 | 6th |
| 2018 | 8th |
| 2019 | 3rd |
| 2020 | 2nd |
SF = Semi-finalist
In Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane, Delhi boast of a solid top order. Pant along with Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer or Sam Billings will look to fill the hole left by Iyer in the middle order.
The addition of the hugely talented and experienced Australian Steve Smith will further bolster their batting.
Pant, who been enjoying a dream run with the bat in the last few months, will have to ensure that the added leadership responsibility doesn't affect his natural attacking instinct as a batsman.
Top batsmen:
| Games | Runs | Highest score | Average | Strike Rate | 100 | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S S Iyer | 79 | 2200 | 96 | 31.42 | 126.07 | 0 | 16 |
| V Sehwag | 79 | 2174 | 119 | 29.37 | 160.32 | 1 | 15 |
| R R Pant | 68 | 2079 | 128* | 35.23 | 151.97 | 1 | 12 |
| S Dhawan | 47 | 1479 | 106* | 38.92 | 133.72 | 2 | 13 |
| D A Warner | 55 | 1435 | 109* | 28.70 | 133.11 | 2 | 10 |
| G Gambhir | 46 | 1182 | 86 | 29.55 | 122.86 | 0 | 9 |
| K D Karthik | 56 | 1036 | 69 | 25.26 | 126.49 | 0 | 6 |
| J-P Duminy | 38 | 1015 | 78* | 44.13 | 130.79 | 0 | 6 |
| P P Shaw | 38 | 826 | 99 | 21.73 | 139.76 | 0 | 6 |
| Q de Kock | 23 | 720 | 108 | 32.72 | 134.83 | 1 | 5 |
On the bowling front, the South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada (IPL 2020 Purple Cap winner) and Anrich Nortje has proved to a dream pair, having scalped 52 wickets together in 2020.
With Chris Woakes in the mix this time and Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav also in the ranks, Delhi have lot of quality options in their pace attack.
In the spin department, Delhi Capitals boast of a lot of experience in veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra, while Axar Patel has also been in great form recently.
Top bowlers:
| Games | Wickets | Average | Runs Per Over | Best | 4W | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Mishra | 95 | 100 | 23.98 | 7.33 | 5-17 | 2 |
| K Rabada | 35 | 61 | 18.09 | 8.23 | 4-21 | 4 |
| M Morkel | 37 | 45 | 24.73 | 7.62 | 4-20 | 1 |
| U T Yadav | 47 | 43 | 30.55 | 8.16 | 4-24 | 1 |
| C H Morris | 34 | 41 | 24.31 | 8.17 | 4-26 | 1 |
| S Nadeem | 61 | 40 | 37.00 | 7.36 | 3-16 | 0 |
| A Nehra | 27 | 36 | 21.05 | 7.50 | 3-26 | 0 |
| I K Pathan | 46 | 29 | 41.06 | 7.57 | 3-28 | 0 |
| P Sangwan | 28 | 29 | 28.72 | 8.19 | 3-18 | 0 |
| Imran Tahir | 20 | 29 | 21.48 | 8.61 | 4-28 | 1 |
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
