IPL 2019 | SWOT analysis - Delhi Capitals

IPL 2019 | SWOT analysis - Delhi Capitals

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The team from the national capital has changed its name and has brought in “Capitals” to it this season. Formerly called as Delhi Daredevils, the Delhi Capitals will also hope a change in fortunes after the change in name and colour of the team in the 12th edition of the IPL.

If we turn the pages of history, we find Delhi a very strong side with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Daniel Vettori, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Glen McGrath, Shoaib Malick, AB de Villiers among others back in 2008, the inaugural year of the world’s most popular cricket league. And pretty much like their tagline “Khelo front foot pe”, they played dominating cricket in the first year and even managed to enter the semi-final before going down to the eventual champions Rajasthan Royals.

However, nothing great hasn’t happened for the team from Delhi after the inaugural year. They have changed captains, players, coaches, support staff but the fans are still waiting to see the team lifting the IPL trophy. There have been a lot of talk regarding Delhi’s strategy of going with young guns over the last two-three seasons. Even last year when Gambhir decided to stop playing for the team, it was a 23-year-old youngster Shreyas Iyer who shouldered the responsibility of the team. The Daredevils (as they were called earlier), however, had a disappointing end to the season with only five wins from 14 matches. With only 10 points, they finished below Kings XI Punjab at the last position on the points table. 

Meanwhile, the franchise has changed its name from Delhi Daredevils to Delhi Capitals. They have a new logo and a new colour as well. But, what they need is the performance from the new recruits and ones those who were retained by the team which is now jointly owned by the GMR group and JSW. Coach Ricky Ponting and the newly-appointed advisor Sourav Ganguly will have to forget the past record as a duo in IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders and concentrate on making a strong outfit ready before their first game against at the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Strengths

Delhi Capitals took a huge decision by trading three players including India all-rounder Vijay Shankar to Sunrisers Hyderabad for local lad Shikhar Dhawan. But, this might prove one of the best decisions of the franchise considering the left-hander’s ability to score runs at a brisk pace at the top of the batting order. He understands the game as well as the pitch at the Kotla where he has played cricket during his formative years. The left hand-right hand opening combination of experienced Dhawan and a young Prithvi Shaw might be the key to their success this year.

Dhawan’s addition might just prove to be a blessing for the batting line-up which already had Iyer and Rishabh Pant and now they have brought in Colin Ingram and Hanuma Vihari for rupees 6.40 crore and 2 crore respectively.  Chris Morris has been in the scheme of things of the franchise and he will provide the strength lower down the order along with Gujarat left-hander Axar Patel. Colin Munro remains the stand-in opener in the squad while there is a power hitter in form of Sherfane Rutherford who can prove an X-factor for the side. Overall the batting department looks strong for the Capitals going into the 12th season. 

Weakness

Bowling remains the biggest weakness for the team considering the fact that there are not a lot of Indian pace bowlers in the squad of the Capitals for the upcoming season who have been impressive. The addition of Ishant Sharma has brought in some experience but in the shortest format of the game, the Delhi pacer has been terrible. His economy rate is more than eight and from 76 games, he has only 58 wickets under his belt. Sharma becomes the weak-link as the team has to depend heavily on the foreign recruits Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult which will make it difficult to bring in surprise package Sandeep Lamichhane into the playing XI. Although the spin department looks a bit settled with Axar Patel and Amit Mishra because of their previous exploits in IPL, the attack will lack variation as both will get the ball to turn away from the right-handers. Again, because of his advancing years and lack of fitness Mishra can be a liability on the field as well. 

Opportunities

This season will be a great opportunity for many of the youngsters in the team to prove their worth while some will try to vindicate the management’s decision of showing faith in them and retaining them for another year in the team. For the franchise, it is an opportunity to turn the tables this time around and undo all the regrets from last 11 editions of the league.

But, it will be a great chance up for grabs for skipper Iyer who has been in and out of the Indian team in spite of his batting talent and run-scoring abilities. He was handed the captaincy in the previous season after Gambhir left and this will be a big chance for the Mumbai lad to lead the team from the front in the 12th edition. Now, with some experience of leading the Delhi team last year and his state team – Mumbai this year, the 24-year-old batsman must have got a bit more idea of how to marshal his troops in big games. 

Threat

The threat of missing out on the services of a few foreign players remains same for almost all the teams in the league because of the upcoming World Cup as this will be the first time in the history of the IPL that the World Cup will be played after the tournament. Meanwhile, the Delhi bowling unit will be threatened the most because of this as both Trent Boult and Kagiso Rabada are expected to join their respective countries for the World Cup so might miss the second half of the league. Both the pacers have been retained for the season and Delhi must be expecting them to star for the side but a call from the national camp might shatter the hopes of the team management.

Again, as we have discussed earlier that Delhi Capitals doesn’t have a great pace attack and it will be the biggest threat to lose both the Kiwi left-armer and South African pacer during the important final stage of the league. The Indian bowlers like Nathu Singh and Avesh Khan with the experienced Ishant will have a tough ask to restrict the opponents in that scenario.

Squad

Shreyas Iyer(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Ankush Bains, Colin Ingram, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jalaj Saxena, Amit Mishra, Rahul Tewatia, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayyappa

Ideal starting XI

Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (C), Colin Ingram*, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari, Chris Morris*, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult*, Kagiso Rabada*.

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