IPL 2020: 3 reasons why Delhi Capitals could be the dark horses this season
The thirteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will commence from 19th September, 2020. IPL 2020 will be a challenging experience for all the teams considering the difficulties created by the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
Delhi Capitals have never made it to the finals of the tournament and will look to change that record this year in UAE.
The team from Delhi had a horrendous run in IPL between the years 2013 to 2018. IPL 2019 was more fruitful for Delhi Capitals as they made it to the play-offs. They could, however, not proceed to the finals.
Delhi Capitals have suffered two major blows before the 2020 IPL as the English duo of Chris Woakes and Jason Roy have been ruled out of the entire season.
Despite the loss, Delhi Capitals have the team which can challenge the best in IPL 2020. The Delhi franchise have a good mix of Indian as well as overseas players who have considerable experience of playing IPL as well as international cricket.
Here is a look at 3 reasons why the franchise from Delhi could be the dark horses for the IPL 2020:
#1. Delhi Capitals possess great Indian batsmen
Delhi Capitals have a strong batting line-up consisting of several talented Indian players. Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rishabh Pant, who have tasted success for India in international cricket, will be the key batsmen for DC in the upcoming IPL season.
The duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw is likely to open the batting for Delhi Capitals in 2020 IPL. While Dhawan likes to get his eye in before taking on the bowlers, Shaw loves to attack the bowlers right from the word go. The duo of Dhawan and Shaw complement each other well while batting together.
Shikhar Dhawan averages 33.17 in IPL cricket and is an experienced and a consistent performer. Shaw has an impressive strike rate of 141.04 in 25 IPL innings and is a dangerous batsman especially in the power-play overs.
Shreyas Iyer has matured a lot as a batsman in the last couple of years and is the main-stay of the Delhi Capitals batting line up.
Delhi Capitals acquired Ajinkya Rahane for IPL 2020 and his experience will come in handy for the team. Rahane may not be a naturally aggressive batsman but he has 2 IPL centuries to his credit. He averages a healthy 32.93 in 132 IPL innings.
Rishabh Pant is a naturally aggressive batsman and an asset for any team, especially in the death overs. He averages 36.17 in 54 IPL innings and has an astounding strike-rate of 162.7.
DC thus has a balanced combination of Indian batsmen who have done well at the international level and in IPL too. The success of DC in IPL 2020 will depend a lot on how the above mentioned Indian batsmen perform.
#2.DC have experience in the bowling department
In Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra, DC have two spinners who have tasted considerable success in IPL. It will be interesting to see the duo bowling in tandem for the first time in IPL.
Ashwin may be seen opening the bowling for Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2020 as he bowls well with the new ball in T20 cricket. Mishra has performed exceptionally well in IPL cricket in the past. He usually bowls in the middle overs when he picks up wickets at regular intervals and also controls the scoring rate.
DC have back-up spinning options in Axar Patel and Sandeep Lamichhane who have done considerably well in IPL cricket in the past.
The fast bowling unit of DC for the 2020 IPL season comprises Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Keemo Paul, and Anrich Nortje.
Kagiso Rabada and Ishant Sharma will lead the pace attack. Mohit Sharma is an experienced player in IPL cricket and has 91 wickets to his credit.
The likes of Paul and Nortje are exciting young fast bowlers who have done well for their international teams and will look to create an impression in IPL cricket too.
DC have a balanced bowling unit with plenty of options in the spinning department as well as pace bowling department for the IPL 2020.
#3. DC have a young and dynamic leader
Shreyas Iyer has been an inspirational leader for DC. He captained the team for a handful of matches in the 2018 IPL. He was appointed as the skipper for the entire IPL 2019 in which Delhi Capitals made it to the playoffs.
Iyer seems to be a calm but mature leader despite these being early days in his captaincy career. The burden of captaincy has not affected his batting and he has scored more than 400 runs in the previous two IPL seasons.
Iyer has established his place in the Indian ODI as well as the T20 team and has matured a lot as a batsman in the last year.
Iyer will be hopeful of leading Delhi Capitals to their maiden IPL title in the IPL 2020.