| Series | Countries | Live Scores | Fixtures | Results | News |
Features
|
Photos | Blogs | Statistics | Archive | Video & Audio | Games | Mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||
Indian Premier League 2010 / News
- Indian Premier League home
- |
- News
- |
- Features
- |
- Photos
- |
- Fixtures
- |
- Results
- |
- Teams
- |
- Squads
- |
- Grounds
- |
- Points Table
- |
- Tournament Stats
- |
- Records
- |
- Season
|
Indian Premier League 2010
Delhi hope to get third time lucky
March 9, 2010
Delhi Daredevils
|
|||
|
Related Links
Series/Tournaments:
Indian Premier League
Teams:
Delhi Daredevils
|
|||
Delhi Daredevils enter the third IPL with the same label as they did the past two - as the team to beat. That is, however, until they reach the semi-finals. Two seasons, two semi-final games, two poor performances. The Delhi juggernaut is a formidable one at normal times, but when the stakes get higher, they have failed to bring out a facet that is only the preserve of champions. Simply put, in two semi-finals they failed to lift their game to an even higher level.
Boasting the best batting order of the tournament, a very reliable wicketkeeper-batsman, the best Twenty20 spinner with an economical Indian ally, and an enviable new-ball attack, Delhi have everything going for them three days before the IPL starts. If Virender Sehwag and David Warner provide sheer belligerence with the bat, Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers bring a mix of calculated big-hitting and superb running between the wickets. Gautam Gambhir can score at a clip without being half as audacious as these four names, while Dinesh Karthik holds up an unassuming lower middle order with his brand of Twenty20 batting.
Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra proved a highly successful pair in South Africa and later in the Champions League Twenty20 in India and are fitting prelude to what follows. Daniel Vettori, when he links up with the team in the second half of the tournament, brings talent and experience and Rajat Bhatia, Pradeep Sangwan and Aavishkar Salvi are more than capable medium-pace options.
The buzz
The pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla, which was severely criticised following the abandonment of the India-Sri Lanka ODI on December 27, has passed the scrutiny of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, chairman of the IPL cricket committee. However, the surface remains an unknown quantity after it first came under scrutiny during the Champions League Twenty20 in October when the pitch was slow and offered uneven bounce. The venue has been banned from hosting internationals for 12 month but IPL games have been passed.
Last week Delhi signed up Eric Simons, India's bowling coach for the home series against South Africa, as an assistant coach. Simons, who will assist Greg Shipperd, fills the position left vacant by Australia's David Saker, and will focus on working with the large bunch of young bowlers in the Delhi squad.
New faces
Delhi jumped at Wayne Parnell in this year's auction and netted the young fast bowler for $610,000. That amount surprised Parnell, and has increased the pressure on him. Parnell fills the slot left vacant after Delhi bought out the contract of Glenn McGrath. The other acquisition is the New South Wales allrounder Moises Henriques, who was transferred from Kolkata Knight Riders, the former India offspinner Sarandep Singh, and the Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda. These three are unlikely to see much playing time given the overseas player cap and Amit Mishra's success as the prime spinner.
Watch out for
David Warner has been in brutal touch against New Zealand and West Indies during Australia's successful summer, and his accomplishments for NSW during the Champions League Twenty20 in India last year prove he likes the conditions. Warner is wicked when at his left-handed best but also likes to change it up every now and then. Tellingly, Warner does not want to abandon the switch-hit, which he believes gives him the advantage of being able to hit with the turn regardless of whether an offspinner or a legspinner is operating.
Missing in action
Daniel Vettori will not be available until the end of New Zealand's Test series against Australia ends on March 31, but franchises have a 48-hour window to name a swap so expect them to usher him back. Apart from that, each of their first-choice players is available for the entire tournament.
X factor
Dinesh Karthik. After a very powerful top five, Karthik settles into the middle order as a major asset for Delhi. A very skilled limited-overs player, Karthik is an asset in Twenty20 because of his ability to hit a long ball and lead a recovery at a brisk pace from down the order. He has never looked bogged down in Twenty20 and has most always been able to find the gaps even when wickets have been lost. Certain to play all Delhi's matches due to his role as wicketkeeper, this is one player the opposition may happen to overlook because of the far more accomplished names the squad. But they do so at a big risk.
Strength
When the first five names on your team list are Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan, de Villiers, and Warner, sufficed to say batting is your strongest asset.
Weakness
Delhi are fast earning the unwanted tag of being club cricket's South Africa in that they have a tendency to choke when it most matters. They made the semi-finals of both IPL seasons and failed to get that far in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 held in India last year. The batting, fielding and bowling are top notch but it's in the head and gut that this outfit needs to toughen up.
IPL 2009 - the key figures:
Final position: Semi-finalists
Top scorer: AB de Villiers with 465 runs at 51.66
Top wicket-taker: Ashish Nehra with 19 wickets at 18.21 and economy rate of 6.78
Best result: Ten-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab
Worst result: six-wicket loss with 14 balls remaining to eventual winners Deccan Chargers in the semi-finals
Highest team score: 189 v Chennai Super Kings
Lowest team score: 120 for 9 v Punjab
Prediction for 2010
Put your money on them making the semi-finals - and they could get third time lucky.
Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo
Feeds: Jamie Alter
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
| Comments have now been closed for this article |
||||||
TopE-mail
Feedback
Print
Jamie Alter
Senior sub-editor While teachers in high school droned on about Fukuyama and communism, young
Jamie's mind tended to wander to Old Trafford and the MCG. Subsequently,
having spent six years in the States - studying Political Science, then
working for an insurance company - and having failed miserably at winning any cricket converts, he moved back to India. No such problem in Bangalore, where he
can endlessly pontificate on a chinaman who turned it around with a flipper,
and why Ricky Ponting is such a good hooker. These days he divides his time
between playing office cricket and constant replenishments at one of the city's many
pubs.
Tournament Results
Sponsored Links
Access your Indian Rupee earnings from anywhere in the world.
ICICI Bank Money2India brings " locked exchange rate" and a free gift
on registering and transfer of USD 250 and above.
FREE copy of Playfair with every Wisden pre-order
At Cricshop.com
DD was one of the better teams in first 2 seasons. The team is gelling well and playing 11 will remain same unlike other teans. But there are few downsides - http://fifth-umpire.blogspot.com/2010/03/delhi-daredevils-would-be-be-third-time.html
Posted by royalg on (March 10 2010, 19:16 PM GMT)OK OK i get scared luking at this battng order because all of the r devastating batsman, and they can single handed destroy any bowling attack, add mathew hayden and gilchrist to this batting order and no team wud hav a chance against them, gud luck shewag, gambhir, karthik, sangawan, mishra and the other indians, cum on delhi, hope u guys or chennai win it this yr. WAT AN AMAZING BATTING ODER, it shud be shewag, warner, dilshan, gambhir, de villers, karthik, bhatia and the rest. i put dilshan ahead of gambhir is to keep up with the run rate and stuff, if u were chassing a small total i wud move gambhir up. but still gud luck delhi make us all prud
Posted by FIASNAHK on (March 10 2010, 12:31 PM GMT)I reckon they are going to have a massive headache on who to open with. Sehwag, gambhir, warner and dilshan are all openers. I think openers are crucial in this format, and you need your best two to open. It has to be sehwag and dilshan. If sehwag happens to do poorly like last time then give it to warner. Gambhir has enough experience to bat at no. 3 like he does in odis. Bowling may be a problem. I dont rate nehra, he could get smashed, but nannes is a great bowler. They should definatly have vettori in the side when he is available, he is the worlds no1 t20 bowler. Maybe even go with two spinners in vettori and mishra. One thing i fear is that the indian pitches are too flat, and much too easy for batsmen. Look at the number of 400 scores here recently. What makes the Ipl fun is looking at collapses and how they recover. Some team might score 300 on indian wickets.
Posted by dpkhbk on (March 10 2010, 06:42 AM GMT)i dont know why dinesh karthik gets undermined as a limited overs player.i am sure that the next great test batsman from india will be dinesh karthik as he alone has the skills the aggression and seems to possess the motivation to become a great. the selectors did a great mistake by preferring dhoni to him.dhoni is good only in indian conditons.give dk a proper run and he will score everywhere.
Posted by ChanduRockers on (March 09 2010, 17:45 PM GMT)Will DD win???? 100% chances...There is no surprise if DD win or lose; All batsmen r hopeless but talented ..Hard Hitters.. play in the air..no one think to play the way..HIT HIT..... Bowling perfect..but will they give hope in Indian pitches. 4 overseas players: Dilshan,AB,Warner,Parnell,Maharoff and Nannes ; Champs of India: Sehwag, Gauti,KD ; Expecting performance: Nehra, Mishra; Surprising: Bhatia and Pradip Sangwan ; All the best Gauti (he should perform his best with AB)
Posted byDelhi daredevils are a fantastic team ... the two things according to me which could go awry for them are : 1. LACK OF BOWLERS a. Dirk Nannes- exceptionally good b. Dan Vettori - world class , but will not be available for 3 weeks and then to accomodate him a batsman (Warner) has to be sacrificed c. Mishra - loopy leg spin can be taken for plenty in this format d. Nehra - his record is pretty bad in recent T20's 2. FEROZESHAH KOTLA PITCH The likes of sehwag and dilshan will generally tend to struggle on a slow track , if the track is fast paced , Delhi are clear else it is anybody's game...
Posted by manasvi_lingam on (March 09 2010, 16:10 PM GMT)Extremely hard to pick. I have two teams in mind; one for pitches more conducive to batting and the others to spinners. Spinner friendly pitch: Gambhir, Sehwag, Warner/Dilshan, de Villiers, Karthik, Manhas/ K. Jadhav, Bhatia/ Joginder Singh, Vettori, Mishra, Nannes/Parnell, Nehra Batsman friendly pitch: Gambhir, Sehwag, Warner, Dilshan, de Villiers, Karthik, Bhatia/ Joginder Singh, Mishra, Nehra, Salvi/Sangwan, Nannes/Parnell/Vettori The X-factor could be Mishra in my opinion who has an excellent T20 record, vast experience of Indian conditions and is a useful batsman too. Vettori will be another key player as will Nannes/Parnell. Also, Joginder SIngh deserves the nod ahead of Bhatia. Very hard hitting batsman and a useful bowler. Good player to have at 7. 6th bowler duties can be shared between Sehwag and Dilshan.
Posted by sanyam_kamat on (March 09 2010, 15:01 PM GMT)go sehwag!!! its my fav team from the beganing and will always remain. and now with parnel and warner others have lot to worry about... my money on Delhi Darevillzzzzz...
Posted byDD wil surely do it dis tym...dey have d strength..it wil difficult 2 pick d 4 ovrseas plyrs..dilshn n AB booked dere places...waitin 4 d nxt 2 places...dey mite go wid nannes ..parnell mite miss..selection wil b tough...anywayz devilz wil lift ipl3...go win it!!!!
Posted byDD must have been in ipl2's semifinals but the gilly storm hit them unfortunately. shewag,dilshan,devilliers,gambhir,karthik is the most formidable batting lineup in any of the ipl teams and this time around DD is sure to get the honours