The fifth edition of the IPL has brought much needed relief relief. My favourite team – the Delhi Daredevils – are contenders once again. The overall TV ratings of the tournament may have gone down but they have skyrocketed in my household and I really pray that they stay that way.
The reasons for the change are easy to see. The batting is much improved. Sehwag has been Sehwag, Pietersen has played like the man who Vijay Mallya had in mind when he made the first 2 million bid in the IPL and Mahela Jayawardene adds a calm in the middle-order which Delhi have always lacked. Irfan Pathan has started to remind us why he was once batting up the order for India and all in all, this team is a far cry from the two man army they were last year.
The bowling department is also looking healthier. Pathan, Morkel and Umesh Yadav look a fearsome pace troika, as Mumbai found out recently. Nadeem has been a pleasant surprise and the likes of Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi have not been required too often.
Some glaring weaknesses remain though.
Delhi are a very top heavy side and carry many passengers in the side – players who cannot be expected to make a winning contribution. The lack of batting depth was exposed in the last game against Pune. And in spite of Nadeem’s encouraging performance, Daredevil fans wince every time the fourth or fifth bowler comes on.
But in spite of their lack of balance, Delhi can still feel reasonably confident of going all the way.
They just need to draw inspiration from the Deccan Chargers of IPL2, a team with similar lack of depth which ran the hot form of 6 players all the way to the title. Rohit Sharma, Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist carried almost all the batting load and RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Fidel Edwards did the heavy lifting in the bowling department.The team from Hyderabad got very little from their other players but the superb form of their super six carried them past the finish line.
A lack of depth can derail a team in a test series or a 50 over tournament. But teams can manage in the compressed Twenty-20 format as long as the big guns are firing.
Delhi have shown so far that they can copy Deccan’s template. They can manage with their limitations and emulate the Chargers if their big guns – the likes of Sehwag, Jayawardene, Pietersen, Pathan, Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel – can continue to perform at high levels right throughout the tournament. This is exactly what Deccan’s super six managed to do.
There is another ominous portent for the Delhi Daredevils.
This team has one more thing in common with the Deccan side of season 2 – the presence of Venugopal Rao. Venu is much reviled but he could well be the lucky charm and become the first player to win IPL titles with two different but very similar teams.
The Delhi Daredevils Blog 