"There is no weakness in bowling" - Aakash Chopra on Delhi Capitals' strengths heading into IPL 2023
Aakash Chopra has picked the Delhi Capitals' (DC) bowling department as their strength heading into IPL 2023.
The Capitals traded Shardul Thakur, who they had bought for a whopping ₹10.75 crore at the IPL 2022 auction, to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of this season's auction. Apart from trading in Aman Khan from KKR, they acquired Ishant Sharma and Mukesh Kumar at the auction to bolster their seam-bowling department.
On the "AakashVani" show on JioCinema, Chopra pointed out that the Delhi Capitals have a well-rounded bowling attack, including two excellent spinners, saying:
"The bowling looks formidable. There is no weakness in bowling. They have Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, who bowled amazingly well last time, picked up a lot of wickets and he was absolutely brilliant."
The former Indian batter added that the Capitals have a formidable seam-bowling lineup along with backup spin-bowling options, observing:
"Anrich Nortje - fit, available and raring to go. Then Mustafizur Rahman, Lungi Ngidi, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mukesh Kumar and Ishant Sharma. They also have Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal and Aman Khan. This team will not have a problem of bowlers."
Chopra named Anrich Nortje as the biggest asset for the Delhi Capitals, elaborating:
"They used to have Shardul, they let him go. Now that Anrich Nortje is fit, available and raring to go - incredible. He is my favorite T20 bowler after Jasprit Bumrah. He is absolutely brilliant."
In a game where 9 of the 10 bowlers have gone at over 10 runs per over, Anrich Nortje finishes with an economy rate of 5.7.
3-0-17-1
6 runs in his last two overs that nearly turned the contest. What a bowler!
#SAvWI
Nortje played just six games for the Capitals in IPL 2022. Although he picked up nine wickets, he was not at his lethal best and conceded an average of 9.71 runs per over.
"They have options in batting" - Aakash Chopra on Delhi Capitals' other strength
Aakash Chopra concluded by picking the presence of overseas batting options as the Delhi Capitals' other strength, stating:
"They have options in batting. Phil Salt had an amazing SA20. Rilee Rossouw - blowing hot, blowing cold, but I don't think anyone else apart from him has scored two consecutive T20I centuries. You might see him play instead of Rovman Powell."
Phil Salt giving early Jos Buttler vibes.. #SA20
Phil Salt smashed 238 runs in 10 innings at an excellent strike rate of 152.56 for the Pretoria Capitals in the inaugural edition of SA20. Rilee Rossouw, who also played for the same franchise, did not have a great tournament, aggregating 202 runs at an underwhelming average of 18.36 in 12 matches.