Delhi Capitals Preview – 2021 Indian Premier League

Revamped Delhi Capitals have certainly been quite a competitive as a unit in the previous two editions of Indian Premier League. Last year, for the first time, Delhi Capitals qualified for the finals of Indian Premier League. They were comfortably brushed aside by Mumbai Indians in the finals. Last year’s runners-up, Delhi Capitals, will be keen to make a serious dash for the coveted trophy this season.

For the coming season, Delhi Capitals did a lot of spending during 2021 IPL auction as Steven Smith, Tom Curran, Sam Billings and Umesh Yadav are prominent signings for this year’s competition. Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw are aggressive players who have a reputation of going after the opposition bowlers in the Powerplay overs. Delhi has managed to reach the playoffs of the competition on five occasions i.e. (2008, 2009,2012, 2019 and 2020).

Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje were the premier players retained by Delhi Capitals for this year’s competition.

With Shreyas Iyer ruled out of the competition, wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant will lead Delhi Capitals for the coming season. England pacer Tom Curran was bought by Delhi for Rs 5.25 crore during 2021 IPL Auction. Besides Curran, Former Australian Captain Steven Smith was signed for a fee of 2.2 crore for the coming edition of the league.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan has been a bankable performer for Delhi Capitals for the previous two editions. Last year, Dhawan reached all-time high with the bat in the IPL and accumulated 618 runs in 17 games with a strike rate of 144.73 for Delhi Capitals. Besides Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer scored 519 runs at an average of 34.60 with three half-centuries for Delhi Capitals.

England’s Chris Woakes, India’s Axar Patel and Australia’s Marcus Stoinis are three quality all-rounders in their overall squad for the coming edition of the league.

With Rishabh Pant named captain of the side, the wicket-keeper batsman will be looking to put in scintillating performances with the bat in the coming season..

Delhi have made interesting choices on the bowling front as Tom Curran and Umesh Yadav were signed by the franchise for the 14th edition of Indian Premier League.

Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are two premier bowlers for the franchise and with the addition of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav; it makes them one of potent bowling attacks in the league.

Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin are premier spinners for the franchise. Last year, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin performed well in the previous edition of the league for Delhi Capitals and will look to do the good work for the franchise in the coming season.

Players to watch out for

Pacer Kagiso Rabada will be the player to watch out for in the bowling department. He has been exceptional for South Africa at the international level across all three formats. Rabada only played six games for Delhi last season and would be keen to play a more pro-active role with the ball this season.

Rishabh Pant has been Delhi’s premier player in the middle-order in the Indian Premier League. He clearly had a decent outing with the bat for Delhi last season. The franchise will be hoping that swashbuckling batsman can find early form this season to get Delhi off to a flying start.

Delhi Capitals

Likely XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (captain &wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Avesh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ravichandran Ashwin.