The GMR Sports-owned Delhi Daredevils will need to get back to the drawing board after retaining only a handful of players from their original squad.
The Delhi flavour seems to have gone missing from the Daredevils with the exodus of players, led by former skipper Gautam Gambhir to the Kolkata Knight Riders. All-rounder Rajat Bhatia and left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan followed Gambhir to KKR while batsman Mithun Manhas, seamer Ashish Nehra and opener Shikhar Dhawan also parted ways. The first two moved to Pune Warriors while Dhawan was snapped up by Deccan Chargers for $300,000.
The one player Daredevils couldn't afford to lose at any cost was Virender Sehwag and GMR wisely decided to retain him. Sehwag, who led the Daredevils in the first two seasons, has been essential to the Delhi franchisee's success as they reached the final four stage on both the occasions. After relinquishing the captaincy last year, Sehwag is back at the helm for the 2011 season.
Delhi will be hard pushed to replicate the success of the first two seasons after losing major players like Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori and Dirk Nannes. Australian dynamite David Warner will need to step up as Sehwag's partner after modest outing last year where he tallied only 282 runs in 11 matches with a century and a fifty.
The dearth of quality Indian players meant that GMR bought Baroda all-rounder Irfan Pathan for a whopping $1.9 million, gambling on his ability with both bat and ball.
From the foreign closet, Aussie all-rounder James Hopes and South African Colin Ingram andRoelof van der Merwe are useful additions to the team.
Delhi's pace bowling closet though is overflowing powered by Morne Morkel. But the side's Achilles heel is in the spin department. Left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra, an 18-year-old from Delhi, and van der Merwe are the side's only spin options along with off-spinner Yogesh Nagar.
Key Players
Virender Sehwag: The Daredevils player is destructive in any format of the game. In T20s, Sehwag's strike-rate touches 160 - a necessity for an opener in this format. If he fires in the first six overs, Delhi can easily target a total in excess of 180 in every match. Captaincy has usually brought the best out of him and Daredevils will look up to him for inspiration.
Irfan Pathan: Bought at a whopping price, the Baroda all-rounder will look to chart his way back into Team India through the IPL. Irfan may well be pushed up the order to utilize his ability to clear the ground. His experience will also come in handy in the bowling department, and he can guide youngsters like Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron.
David Warner: The pocket dynamite from New South Wales will form one of the most devastating opening combinations in IPL along with Sehwag. Delhi were spoilt for choice in the earlier seasons, which kept Warner on the bench more often than not. With the departure of top players, Warner can expect a longer run this time around.
James Hopes: The Australian all-rounder has shifted base from Kings XI Punjab to Delhi. Hopes is a powerful hitter and his wicket-to-wicket medium pace bowling will come in handy on the slow surfaces.
Morne Morkel: The South African speedster was a prize catch for the Daredevils. Morkel has carried the South African attack with Dale Steyn in recent times. His ability to generate extra bounce from even the most docile surfaces will trouble most batsmen in the IPL.
Support Staff
Head coach:
Greg Shipperd: The 54-year-old is one of the most successful coaches in Australia, having ledVictoria to three Sheffield Shield titles and playing a major role in their four KFC T20 Big Bash wins. He had immediate success in the IPL as well, guiding the Delhi Daredevils to two semifinals. He can also be credited with backing players like Dirk Nannes, one of the IPL superstars.
Assistant coach:
Eric Simons: The bowling coach of Team India has been assisting Shipperd with the Daredevils. A former medium-pacer for South Africa, Simons has played a major role in mentoring fine fast bowlers like Nannes, Umesh Yadav, Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan. He'll have a lot more on his plate this season with the likes of Morne Morkel, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Varun Aaron in the team.
Physiotherapist:
Kirk Russell: He has been with the England team since the 2002 Ashes. Russell believes a physiotherapist needs to do extensive liaising with medical teams from around the world to provide quality care and medical attention to players.
Performance Analyst:
Trent Woodhill: The New South Welshman is also the assistant coach with the New Zealand team. Cricketers pay close attention to his tips and tricks.
Squad: Virender Sehwag (captain), Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S. Sriram, Tejaswi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikas Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar,Shahbaz Nadeem, David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Roelof van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Colin Ingram and Robert Frylink.
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