IPL preview: Delhi Daredevils

For a team that started off so well in the Indian Premier League, the Delhi Daredevils have almost limped their way through the past few seasons of the tournament.

They won just three games out of 16 in the 2013 season to finish last on the table, which was expectedly followed by a pre-season reshuffle during the auction. It did not change their fortunes though, as the Daredevils slumped to nine successive defeats to finish with just two wins from 14 games in 2014. A new captain in the form of Kevin Pietersen did nothing to improve their showing and they had to release majority of their players to the auction pool yet again.

This was after the Daredevils started off with successive semi-finals over the first two seasons of the IPL and narrowly missed out on a third such opportunity in 2010. They showed glimpses of that form in the 2012 edition, when they finished at the top of the table after the group stage, but lost successive matches in the playoffs.

For this season they have another new-look side, with JP Duminy being given the captaincy reins. In Yuvraj Singh, they have the costliest player of any IPL auction (priced at AUD 3.2 million) but there's not always correlation between player price and form so the Daredevils will hope the former India international will be able to thwart that theory. At any rate, Yuvraj is a huge crowd-puller and that should fill up the franchise’s coffers as far as turnstile revenues are concerned. 

Among the Aussies to be selected this season, Perth Scorchers' Nathan Coulter-Nile will lead the way with the ball if he makes it to the four overseas player-quota. Sydney Thunder’s Gurinder Sandhu, who has his roots from India, is another quick bowler who would love to have a go, but making it to the playing XI will be difficult for him. Victoria's Marcus Stoinis and new South Australia's new captain Travis Head are the other Aussies in the squad.

Strengths
It's a team that looks to have all its bases covered in the bowling department. Mohammad Shami had an excellent campaign in the World Cup and should lead the attack, while leg-spinner Amit Mishra had some good form going for him in the 2014 World T20 and this is a format he really loves. 

Zaheer Khan is back from injury and his experience will help him play the role of mentor to the other quicks in the squad. They also have all-round options of Albie Morkel, Coulter-Nile and Angelo Mathews; depending on who’s fit and whether they need to bolster their batting or bowling, they can select one or two of them. Imran Tahir backs Mishra up and it might not be surprising to see both the leggies play in a game if the pitch is assisting enough.

Weaknesses
On the batting front, Delhi have some work to do. It looks like Yuvraj will be expected to carry much of the batting load for the side with captain Duminy helping him out, but can they get anything out of the rest? 

Manoj Tiwary and Saurabh Tiwary have both played at international level but have been forgotten men of Indian cricket because of fitness issues, while there are others who either lack the consistency in this format or are too inexperienced at this stage. This indicates that Delhi will need to pick their four overseas players very carefully, as getting that combination right will go a long way in deciding how well their batting goes in the tournament.

Predicted Finish
If Yuvraj or Duminy can fire with the bat throughout the tournament, they could make the playoffs. But the management needs to realise one of the biggest qualities required in a tournament like this is stability in the squad.

Squad
Jean-Paul Duminy, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohammed Shami, Saurabh Tiwary, Quinton De Kock, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Shahbaz Nadeem, Angelo Mathews, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Yuvraj Singh, Gurinder Sandhu, Jaydev Unadkat, CM Gautam, Dominic Muthuswamy, Shreyas Iyer, Travis Head, Albie Morkel, Kona Srikar Bharat, Marcus Stoinis, Zaheer Khan, KK Jiyaz

Coach: Gary Kirsten
Assistant coach: Praveen Amre
Bowling coach: Alfonso Thomas
Other support staff: Rob Walter, Sunil Valson, Paul Close, Prasanna Agoram, S Sriram

IPL Season Previews

• Chennai Super Kings
• Delhi Daredevils
• Kings Xi Punjab
• Kolkata Knight Riders
• Mumbai Indians
• Rajasthan Royals
• Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Sunrisers Hyderabad