With the exception of Virender Sehwag at the top of the order, there is not quite the same sense of threat about the Daredevils’ batting line-up as there is about, say, the Chennai Super Kings. The statistics show that their total of 54 sixes last season was the lowest by any team. But the other side of the coin is that they scored off more balls than anyone else.
Delhi signed two England batsmen at the February auction, and it is revealing that they went for Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah — two of the canniest, most versatile one-day batsmen to come out of county cricket in the past decade. It seems unlikely that both will play every one of the five games for which they are available as Australian Glenn McGrath, Daniel Vettori, of New Zealand, and Australian speedster Dirk Nannes are among those vying for the four overseas spots.
Yet the Englishmen certainly fit into the team’s philosophy of manoeuvring the ball into awkward areas. And Collingwood will also improve the fielding: a team with him and AB de Villiers, of South Africa, to prowl the edges of the square will be 10 to 15 runs in credit before it has even started.
The Daredevils’ batting failed badly only in one match last year — the semi-final — when they crashed to 87 all out against the Rajasthan Royals’ finely honed attack. In general, though, this is a consistent, well-balanced team with a strong spine.
Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and Sri Lankan all-rounder Farveez Maharoof act as finishers in the middle order. And when they take the field, they have McGrath and Amit Mishra, India’s latest leg-spin find, to keep the opposition in check. Last year McGrath finished with extraordinary figures — 12 wickets and an economy-rate of 6.61 — all the more remarkable because he was 38 and had not bowled a ball for Australia since the 2007 World Cup final. But then you always suspected that he might do something special: it shows the quality of the man.
The emergence of Mishra, around halfway through Delhi’s campaign, soon reaped rewards as he returned the tournament’s second-best figures against Deccan Chargers (5 for 17). Since then, Mishra has made his Test debut for India and bowled Australia to a series-defining defeat at Mohali. He is one of a number of cricketers whose careers have been jump-started by the IPL.
Key man: Daniel Vettori
Likely starting XI: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Rajat Bhatia, Paul Collingwood, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Daniel Vettori, Ashish Nehra, Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath.
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