Another season for Delhi Capitals and the same question similar to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ticks off in the mind... will this be their year, rather sheepishly though. The Capitals had their worst season last year, finishing just one place above bottom where their batting floundered starting from a failing top-order to almost a non-existent middle order. Expectedly, the Delhi side had a cleanup before the IPL 2024 auction and have added quite a few quality players, some utility ones but the availability will remain an issue, like several other teams.
DC in 2024 will all be about Rishabh Pant and his return to cricket from a life-threatening accident. Pant was just happy that he is alive and the rest will care of itself. Surgeries, recovery, rehab and that for months and months with seemingly no end can get to anyone, let alone a professional sportsperson and to be able to be playing cricket again, running and wicketkeeping at full strength in space of 14 months is no less than a miracle. And Delhi will hope that Pant can get going straight away.
So here's a look at Delhi's squad and will they be able to challenge the other 9 teams for a spot in the playoffs?
Strengths
It's bizarre that a team has strengths in both its batting and bowling departments and still don't look a solid line-up. David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant and now Tristan Stubbs - that's as solid a top five as it can get. However, there was no Pant last year and remember he hasn't played cricket for almost a year and a half.
Marsh and Shaw struggled last year averaging 14 and 13 last year and Warner had to play the anchor more often than not since Delhi found themselves 2/3 down in the powerplay itself on most occasions. How Shaw plays could have a telling impact on Delhi's season. Warner is in form, Marsh has been in great touch and Stubbs is coming off a sensational SA20.
With Axar Patel to follow, DC have already gotten at least six overs of bowling if not more in top 6 itself. Hence, they have now option of playing a pure batter or an all-rounder in the form of Haryana's Sumit Kumar at No. 7.
Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Rasikh Dar, Anrich Nortje and Jhye Richardson and hopefully one more pacer as Harry Brook's replacement. Delhi have decent pace attack too, to add to probably the second-best spin bowling combination of the tournament in Axar and Kuldeep.
Weaknesses
What's their strength is also their weakness, i.e., depth in both batting and bowling. After six, their batting just stops. The backups like Yash Dhull and Lalit Yadav don't inspire much confidence, especially when the former is a top-order batter. Delhi paid a lot for Kumar Kushagra, the 19-year-old Jharkhand wicketkeeper batter but he is still untested at this level. Sumit Kumar is more of a bowling all-rounder and No 7 might be a place too high for him, especially since this will be his first season. Pant has had basically no competitive cricket in last 15 months, how will he cope with pressure situations and how will his body respond?
Similarly in the bowling, apart from Khaleel Ahmed, who has been terrific in the last two years in the IPL and even in domestic cricket, the pace attack has questions written all over it. Ishant Sharma is not getting any younger, Mukesh Kumar still hasn't taken the world by storm in T20s and if Nortje misses a few games, the pace attack might be really short of experience and quality. Yes, there is Jhye Richardson, but he too is coming off an injury break and is always one muscle pull or hamstring strain away from getting injured again, but if he gets through the season unscathed, nothing like it. Hence, Delhi need to sign a gun fast bowler as Brook's replacement to lift their bowling stocks a bit.
Opportunity
Make the playoffs! Delhi are definitely better placed this year to make the top four, but they will need to play out of their skins to achieve that. Every single department will have to consistently churn out quality performances one after the other to get the job done because there are resources but how they perform and how the captain and the coaching staff are able to get those performances out of them will be key.
Also, Stubbs! Stubbs is the closest to what Glenn Phillips is, a four-dimensional player. He keeps wickets, can bowl decent-ish off-spin, is a destructive hitter with the bat and absolutely rapid on the field and at INR 50 Lakh, he was a steal. Stubbs could also be looked at as future by DC and with no Brook, he will start and he has enough quality and pedigree to win games on his own and the 2020 finalists will be hoping for him to replicate some of his SA20 magic for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape here in the IPL.
Threats
The Capitals' batting flopped extraordinarily last year. Yes, they are better placed this time around with a couple of more options and even have backups like Shai Hope and Jake Fraser-McGurk. However, there are too many uncertainties and only a good start to the tournament can take away that doubt and fear. The bowling still might take care of itself, like last year but their batters need to come together and Pant will have a huge responsibility given that the emotions will have to be put aside and only thing that will matter will be the performances.
Delhi Capitals squad IPL 2024: Rishabh Pant(w/c), Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Tristan Stubbs, Yash Dhull, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Khaleel Ahmed, Anrich Nortje, Jhye Richardson, Shai Hope, Vicky Ostwal, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Salam, Sumit Kumar, Swastik Chhikara
