Ee Saala Cup Namde? Oh, wrong chat! But it applies to this team as well. The fan-following and the popularity of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) might suggest that they are the only franchise left without winning a title after 17 attempts but that's not the case. Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals are also sailing in the same boat - the holy trinity as the sentiment on social media would like to call it. The Kings had won a trophy last year in the CPL, the RCB women did it in their second attempt in the WPL and the Capitals too opened their account with a title in the ILT20. So, can Delhi do it this year?
They can, actually, but a lot of things have to go right for that. Also, there's one commonality between RCB and the Delhi Capitals, Faf du Plessis, who can still utter those four magical words, not 'Ee Saala Cup Nahi'. Du Plessis has won a few titles with the Super Kings from Chennai but since that break-up, the 40-year-old youngster has found it a little tough to go all the way. This time, however, du Plessis will be a subordinate, a supporting actor but the writing was on the wall after Harry Brook's pullout about him being a sure-shot starter. Although, du Plessis will not have the class of Virat Kohli at the other end but a cracker in the form of Jake Fraser-McGurk and this is the area where the Capitals and the new leadership have to put every next step carefully.
Fraser-McGurk has been off the boil a bit since the last IPL, but who knows, the tiny Kotla ground might just reinvigorate the big hitter inside him. If Fraser-McGurk works out, the Capitals will overcome a slightly bigger hole Brook's departure created as that would mean du Plessis opening the innings and Delhi having an experienced and in-form KL Rahul batting at No 4 with Abishek Porel, the fourth retention batting at 3.
The Capitals have a backup in form in Karun Nair, who was in tremendous domestic form, if Rahul misses a couple of games with a possible option of Axar Patel batting at 5, followed by the likes of Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma. Then you ask, where's the issue? Stubbs is Delhi's only middle-order finishing option with Donovan Ferreira as the backup. In the past 12 months, Stubbs has become South Africa's Test No 3 and batted in the top half even in white-ball cricket for the Proteas. Hence, in the second season, with a much bigger price tag, the same goes for Ashutosh who burst onto the scene for Punjab Kings, Delhi need Stubbs and Co to get going straight away.
The bowling will take care of itself largely with captain Axar and Kuldeep Yadav, two of the better Indian spinners at the helm, with Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar in the pace-bowling department. If everything clicks, this is one dangerous-looking line-up with gun batters, outstanding pacers and proper spinners but with Delhi, there's more to them than just the 11 or 12 players playing on the field, especially this time around.
Axar Patel leads Gujarat in domestic white-ball cricket but IPL is a different gravy and he got a taste of it last year against du Plessis' RCB in Bengaluru. Patel is in the form of his life and probably more glory years ahead of him being one of the most improved Indian cricketers on the circuit. Can Patel keep Axar the all-rounder and Axar the captain separate? This is where the new support staff led by Hemang Badani, fresh off title-winning success in the ILT20, comes in.
With GMR and JSW operating the Capitals on a two-yearly basis, the former have brought their own coaching staff from the Dubai Capitals while adding the likes of Matthew Mott and Kevin Pietersen to the mix. How the new captain and the coaching staff gel and come together will probably make or break Delhi's season.
The squad they have, with enough backups, will challenge the other nine teams for a spot in the playoffs, especially as they have a core now with youth and experience that they can retain for a major part of the new cycle because after triple heartbreak from the WPL in the final, Delhi, the team and the city, deserves some success and celebration.
Delhi Capitals squad: Axar Patel (c), Faf du Plessis (vc), KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, Jake Fraser-McGurk, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mondal, Karun Nair, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari