IPL 2021 preview: Shreays Iyer-less Delhi Capitals seeks change in fortunes for maiden title glory

By Ayush Gupta | First Published Mar 31, 2021, 6:40 PM IST

Delhi Capitals is one of the three teams in the Indian Premier League to have never won the title to date. Its best performance to date was last season when it finished as the runner-up. It would be led by Rishabh Pant this season, with Shreyas Iyer out with shoulder dislocation.

Be it any Twenty20 league globally, every team is equally competitive, regardless of its history. The same goes for in the Indian Premier League, as Delhi Capitals is one such team with no success.

It is one of the three IPL sides to have not won the title to date. Although its fortunes have magically changed since the past couple of seasons, they have fallen short of title success. Nonetheless, come IPL 2021, it would once again have a fresh chance at glory and is also one of the favourites. In the same light, we present the team preview for DC for the upcoming season.

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Squad composition
The squad is evenly balanced with batsmen and bowlers, 15 each to be precise, excluding skipper Shreyas Iyer who has been indefinitely ruled out due to a partially dislocated shoulder. Every department possesses big guns and mostly capped players. No doubt, this strategic team planning has helped DC in the past couple of seasons as the spree is likely to continue this term.

Strengths and weaknesses
Talking about resilience, it is its batting. The side is bolstering with top guns like Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Shimron Hetmyer and Prithvi Shaw. Also, the all-round likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel and TomCurran are sure to nail it. Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings and Rishabh Pant can just blow away any bowling attack, especially considering their present form.

ALSO READ: IPL 2021- Delhi Capitals to be led by Rishabh Pant upon Shreyas Iyer's absence

As for its weakness, it is bowling. It is the spin department that lags, with only veteran spinner Amit Mishra heading the department. Nonetheless, Ashwin and Patel can consolidate for him. Meanwhile, the pace department has big guns like Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada. Simultaneously, the latter two are T20 specialists and would be extremely difficult for the batsmen to handle. Also, they are to be duly supported by Woakes, Stoinis and Curran.

Players to watch out
Smith: The Australian modern-day great had a terrible season in 2020. Nonetheless, he would look to get his T20 career on track with the new side. He is coming off a decent T20I outing against India at home; finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in three games si sure to give him some confidence. However, carrying the momentum ahead would be a difficult task for him, especially in India.
Shaw: The young Indian opener was in a blazing form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy this month, scoring more than 800 runs and finishing as the highest run-scorer ever in a season. As he performed miserably in the Tests in Australia, he is making a case for himself in a bid to trigger his international comeback. Furthermore, having being denied a spot in the ODI squad against England, IPL would be another platform to solidify his stance.
Pant: Ever since IPL 2020, Pant has been in a different form altogether. Notably, he has been highly consistent and is delivering for the faith shown in him. Due to this consistency, he has been roped in as the interim/replacement skipper for Iyer. He is sure to carry in this form with the bat. However, it would be interesting to see how he handles captaincy's pressure, with this being his first such role in the tournament.

A milestone in the reckoning
One of the significant milestones in line for DC would be leg-spinner Mishra, who could become the highest wicket-taker in IPL history. He is just ten wickets short of levelling the feat and 11 short of surpassing the current record holder, Lasith Malinga, as the lanky Sri Lankan did so by playing for Mumbai Indians.

DC squad for IPL 2021
Batsmen: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Ripal Patel, Shimron Hetmyer and Prithvi Shaw.
All-rounders: Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Tom Curran and Lalit Yadav.
Wicketkeepers: Sam Billings, Vishnu Vinod and Rishabh Pant.
Spinners: Amit Mishra, Pravin Dubey and Manimaran Siddharth.
Pacers: Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Lukman Meriwala, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and Avesh Khan.

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