IPL 6: Daredevilry needed to stall Knight Riders in season opener

Form of Sehwag and Gambhir will be crucial for their sides’ success

TA Sekhar came back and infused a new spirit into Delhi Daredevils last season. The results showed how much he offers at the helm. Delhi led the table almost from start to finish. Nevertheless, they still managed to give the finals a miss. The top heavy side could be South Africa’s counterpart in the IPL, boasting of immense quality but choking in the elimination rounds. The other concern I found with Delhi is the kind of pitches Feroz Shah Kotla curators kept offering them. The best pace bowling side in the IPL with Yadav and Morkel along with a string of other seam bowlers, Delhi never capitalised on their pace bowling strength, generally doling out spin friendly, sluggish tracks in most matches, if not all.

The Delhi Daredevils boasted of four behemoths at the top in Sehwag, Warner, KP and Mahela. Sehwag was in sublime touch last season, contributing with great flair and consistency. Much has changed in one year. Sehwag looked woefully out of touch in the last Test series and was dropped subsequently. He still needs to adjust while playing with spectacles. The carefree nature of T20 might bring out the best in the ‘usually insouciant’ Sehwag. He has an able partner in David Warner. Warner has a T20 international strike rate close to 140 while Sehwag has a swashbuckling 145 to show for his blitzkrieg style of batting. Both have played over 100 T20s at the league level too and can take the game away from the opposition in no time. But for that to happen, Sehwag has to recover from his spasms and be available for the opener. What a dampener Sehwag’s absence would be! Mahela might end up opening in that case with Chand at No.4.

Yadav, Morkel and Pathan, all of whom are expected to start, are on comeback trails. That would be another concern for Delhi. With Taylor traded off to Pune, one can expect Andre Russell, the impressive West Indian all-rounder to get more games. KP and Ryder’s absence is going to dent Delhi’s chances. Nevertheless with three all-rounders in Russell, Pathan and Botha, they have a good middle order that can capitalise on the starts provided by Sehwag, Warner and Mahela, who is likely to bat at No.3. Unmukt Chand was quite raw last year, but with a whole year of domestic matches in the senior league, he is expected to show a bit more of his precocious talent. Chand has raised expectations with several domestic centuries, especially in tournament finals. One can remember the difference an in-form young Manish Pandey made to RCB’s chances during IPL II.

Delhi will fancy their chances against Kolkata and even though KKR are the defending champions, you can bet big on Delhi to pull this one off. KKR’s form is virtually an unknown factor with Gambhir and Kallis both going through lean patches. Kallis is coming off an injury too. Eoin Morgan is yet to prove himself in IPL. Shakib will be missing because of the Zimbabwe tour. McCullum has an injury scare while Pattinson would be joining only a little later. The absence of McCullum in the tournament opener is a huge blow, considering he was in a rich vein of form for NZ in the recently concluded series against England. That leaves KKR without several of their big guns. They are slow starters anyway. Bisla with his wonderful knock in the final last year might offer confidence at the top if Haddin isn’t picked as the keeper. Senanayake, the tall off-spinner from Sri Lanka, who hit jackpot in the auctions, might have to work hard to prove his $625,000 price tag. If he can succeed in complementing Sunil Narine, Kolkata could go a long way in improving upon their performances at sluggish home pitches.

Kolkata Knight Riders players practice at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata ahead of their opening IPL game against Delhi Daredevils (Photo: IANS)

Interestingly, both teams rallied heavily around their best Indian batsman, Sehwag and Gambhir respectively, who ironically have been DD captains in the past. Gambhir at the top proved to be KKR’s might, his over-aggressive streak giving them fiery foundations match after match. Against the pace of Morkel and Yadav, though, it is Kallis who will be expected to lend solidity. The match promises to be a surprise thriller, considering most of the big names are recovering from injuries or poor form or both. It remains to be seen who will conquer the demons and who wouldn’t. On paper, this is as good a contest as it can get in IPL, but on the green, it still remains to be seen if we will have a corker of a match.