Head coach Ricky Ponting lauds the young Indian talents of Delhi Daredevils
What's the story
Delhi Daredevils, which is one of the four teams to have never won an Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy, disappointed yet again by finishing at the bottom of the table in this season as well. Nevertheless, their head coach Ricky Ponting has picked up a lot of positives from his side as the season ends for them, the most predominant of those being the performance of the Indian youngsters in the team.
Ponting stated that he felt the talent they had was outstanding, and that they were not to be blamed for not finishing at a higher position on the table.
The details
With a host of talented young Indian players in their setup, DD easily gave players like Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Avesh Khan good runs in the tournament. The four of them were frequent starters, with Pant and Iyer featuring in every game.
When Gambhir stepped down as captain, the DD management even went to the extent of passing the mantle of captaincy to young Iyer. Sandeep Lamichhane is another notable find of the season. Featuring in the final few games, Lamichhane impressed one and all by his performance.
Ponting duly praised Rishabh Pant for having an outstanding season. Pant is currently leading the race for the Orange Cap this season. While Ponting hoped that Pant would secure the Orange Cap, he also pointed out that nobody else apart from Shreyas Iyer really complimented Rishabh's knocks. "It would be nice if he was able to retain that [Orange Cap] for the remaining games but as we know, Kane Williamson is breathing down his throat. It is a great recognition for the personal season that Rishabh has had, " Ponting said.
"Across the board we needed a more even contribution - from a few more of our top-order batsmen if we were going to be a threat to challenge for the title this year. Shreyas had a really good season, probably over 400 runs, he can hold his head up high but we just didn't get enough consistency from our batting group to be up there with the leading teams in the tournament," he added.
Continuing on the same theme, Ponting spoke about the rest of the youngsters of the team who have made a mark as well. "If you look through some of the youngsters that we have played this year, you have to say some of the guys you have seen - Prithvi [Shaw], Abhishek [Sharma], Sandeep [Lamichhane] - you got to say they are some of the most exciting players that have actually taken part ever, Avesh Khan is another one. We have got a lot of very highly talented youngsters and if you look at the results of our Indian players through this tournament, we can't blame them at all. Our Indian talent has been outstanding. We can't complain there. Our scouting was very good," he asserted.
Sandeep Lamichhane really caught the attention of one and all. "He has bowled really well in the last three games," Ponting said. "If you look back to the start of the tournament and what our starting eleven might have looked like, if you put a Rabada and a Chris Morris into that side, with probably a Maxwell, it is pretty hard to fit Sandeep into the starting eleven, Morris played the first four or five games before he went home.
"We mixed and matched with Plunkett, Boult, Christian and so on, trying to find the right sort of combination that was going to suit different conditions around the country," Ponting thereby explained the reason to have not included the young spinner in the team during the initial games.
"It's great to see guys like him, even Abhishek Sharma, in the last few games. We have unearthed a very talented player in Prithvi Shaw as well. We are looking forward to them having really long [and] successful IPL careers, hopefully the whole time here at the Delhi Daredevils."
Ponting also backed his skipper Iyer who was pushed into the forefront after Gautam Gambhir abruptly decided to step down and vacate his place in the side as well, owing to poor form as the reason. Ponting stated that though Gambhir's resignation was a shock to everyone, his character to have taken such a bold step should be appreciated.
"He made way which gave Prithvi Shaw an opportunity to play, as I said Prithvi is a highly talented young bloke, has got to work on his running between the wickets, but other than that, he is a pretty good young player," he added.
"For a young guy like Shreyas, who has not probably done a lot of captaincy in his earlier days, it is a daunting thing to do - to have to captain an IPL team on the biggest stage in front of big crowds every game - but he has handled that challenge particularly well. He is a tremendous young guy, he will go a long way in the game, not only with the Daredevils but with his Indian career as well. I wouldn't be surprised if I see some more leadership roles coming his way down the track", Ponting observed.
In case you didn't know...
The Delhi team's youngsters have been the most amazing picks of the IPL season so far. Just like Ponting said, Pant, Iyer, Lamichhane, Avesh and Abhishek have become mainstays in the team. In the 14 games Pant played, he amassed 684 runs at an average of 52.61, including three fifties and a ton, his 128* being the highest ever individual score by an Indian in the history of IPL.
Shreyas Iyer had a quieter albeit a good tournament as well, scoring 341 from 14 games at an average of 39.36, including four 50+ knocks. Sandeep Lamichhane picked up five wickets in three matches at a measly economy of 6.83. His best bowling came against Mumbai in yesterday's game where he scalped up three wickets for 36 runs, helping his side beat the Mumbaikars.
Other players, like Abhishek Sharma who faced just 33 balls this season and scored at a strike rate of 190, Harshal Patel who picked up seven wickets at an average of 23, Vijay Shankar and Prithvi Shaw who scored totals of 212 and 245 each at strike rates of 145 and 153 respectively, are also brilliantly talented players who have featured in the Delhi squad.
Author's take
The depth of Indian talent in the Delhi lineup is a unique factor that we have come across, this IPL. One can't help but reminisce the olden days of the IPL when Shane Warne's "Cinderella Eleven" romped home with the title in 2008, boasting only of young Indian players whose potential had remained untapped until then. While many of those guys were shot to obscurity since then, conditions have become more and more favourable for Indian youngsters to feature well in the league.
Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and so on are just a few names that have received Indian national call-ups and even featured for national duties, courtesy of their outstanding performances in the IPL. The next set of this kind, is definitely from the Delhi squad - it could be Iyer, Pant or maybe even Harshal Patel and Abhishek Sharma among others. Meanwhile, Lamichhane has earned a huge name for himself, coming from Nepal as its first player to feature in India's cash-rich league.
His being named in the ICC World XI - alongside biggies like Eoin Morgan, Shahid Afridi, Dinesh Karthik, Mitchell McClenaghan, Luke Ronchi and Thisara Pereira - is definitely a sign of things to come. The abovementioned ICC World XI is scheduled to play against T20 World Champions West Indies, on 31st May 2018.