Preview: Strengthened Delhi Daredevils aim for better rewards

A quick glance through the Delhi Daredevils squad, and one can't count out the fact that it is one of the most formidable sides of IPL 8, if not the most. That being said, the success the side has tasted over the past two years has been inversely proportional to the fire-power it possesses on paper.

In 2013, DD won just three games out of 16 to finish last on the table, following which they underwent extensive changes in their squad - Gary Kirsten was named Head Coach and Kevin Pietersen was assigned the responsibility of leading the team. However, despite all the reshuffling, the fortunes of the team did not change and last season, DD were hammered in nine straight games, finishing with just two wins from 14 matches - the worst ever by a team in IPL history.

For a team that began the Indian Premier League so well - reaching consecutive semi-finals in the first two seasons and then narrowly missing out on a third straight chance, DD have endured a downward spiral ever since. This time too, the Delhi-based franchise boasts of a refreshed look, and with earnest intention, will look to put behind the wretchedness of previous two seasons.

Captain

For a third successive season, DD have appointed a new skipper. Replacing Pietersen is South Africa allrounder JP Duminy, who has been in sublime touch with the bat of late and even picked up a World Cup hat-trick against Sri Lanka in the first quarter-final. Duminy, one of few players to be retained by the team after a disastrous campaign last year, will lead a team comprising fellow South Africans Quinton de Kock, Imran Tahir and Albie Morkel.

Following the team's practice match at the Palam Airforce Ground on Friday, Duminy assured to rectify the areas of weaknesses from last season in order to compete against the more settled combinations. "Obviously we were very bad in a lot of areas last season. Last season wasn't the season we wanted. We got only four points. This season we want to a rectify that. I am excited by the calibre of players we have season. A lot of teams are quite settled and structured. But it is exciting to think that new team can bring in new energy," Duminy said.

Coach

2011 World Cup winning Coach Gary Kirsten remains head coach of the side, along with assistant coach Pravin Amre. The franchise cut its ties with Eric Simons, who has been with the team in various roles since 2010. With DD, Amre will be working for the third IPL franchise after previous stints with Mumbai Indians and Pune Warriors. The franchise has also signed T20 veteran Alfonso Thomas as their bowling coach Thomas, 38, is the fourth highest wicket-taker in T20 matches with 248 scalps from 214 matches.

The Duminy-Kirsten association has the potential of taking DD all the way. Kirsten, who recently led South Africa to the semi-final of the World Cup, said he is eager to resurrect his performance with DD. "I am looking forward to it. It has been a tough two seasons. We have put together a nice squad, there are some senior players around the world, exciting youngsters and we have got a nicely balanced team," said the former South Africa opener.

Meanwhile, Amre said he took up the role as a challenge and also because he was looking forward to working closely with Kirsten. "Three years ago, Daredevils were a certainty for knockouts. But the last two years, they have fallen by the wayside. That is where my inputs as a coach will come handy. I can help them form a balanced team considering seven Indian players feature always. So my knowledge of domestic Indian players will come to the fore. "I am looking forward to working with him [Kirsten]. We know how much contributions he has done for Indian cricket so it would be a learning experience for me, too," Amre had said in November last year.

Previous IPL standings

DD were semi-finalists in the first two editions in 2008 and 2009, but a place in the final has always eluded them. In 2010, they missed out of the final four due to an inferior run-rate. The next season, they suffered their first-ever low finishing last in the table with four wins out of 14 matches. However, they bounced back in 2012 but couldn't go beyond the playoffs. The previous two seasons though, remain their most forgettable editions, accounting for just five wins from 30 matches.

How they fared in IPL 7

A new beginning is always fun to look forward to, but for DD and their fans, the fresh start was nowhere near being fun. Ahead of IPL 7, DD were a revamped and a rejuvenated team, but at the end of the campaign, they were carrying a regressed and a dissolute look.

Daredevils notched up two wins in their five games in the UAE. After starting their campaign on a losing note, to Royal Challengers Bangalore at Sharjah, they bounced well to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders in a stiff chase but went on to lose the next two mainly due to batting failures. DD finished the UAE leg with an easy win over Mumbai Indians, but back in India, where they played four games at the Feroz Shah Kotla, failed to register a single win. DD were blanked 9-0 on the trot and finished at the bottom.

New Additions

The franchise went in for a complete restructured line-up. Out of the previous squad of 25, only 11 players have been retained and last year's most costly purchases like Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Karthik have been replaced by the likes of Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews. Impactful additions have been made in both departments. Quinton de Kock's inclusion at the top bodes well considering his camaraderie with Kirsten and Duminy.

The side has a strengthened pace attack. India's leading wicket-taker in the World Cup, Mohammed Shami, will most likely share the new ball with Zaheer, who has got his fitness box ticked and is on the road to playing professional cricket again. Giving them company is retained Australian pacer Nathan Coulter Nile and Gurinder Sandhu, belonging from Indian origin. Marcus Stoinis and Travis Head are the other Australians in the squad whereas Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, CM Gautam and Shreyas Iyer make for the Indian flavour. Also, returning to his home side after serving Sunrisers Hyderabad for two seasons is Amit Mishra, who has been a consistent wicket-taker in all seven editions.

Key Players

Yuvraj Singh was the most expensive buy in IPL 7 and this season too, he has managed to claim the highest price during the auctions with a tag of 16 crore. Although he showed glimpses of authority during his sting last year with Royal Challengers Bangalore, scoring 376 runs from 14 games, he wasn't his best by any means. Following his World Cup snub, Yuvraj, under a new team, will be keen on proving that he still belongs in the big league.

Angelo Mathews has been the most complete cricketer in the past 12 months, and although he is likely to miss DD's opening game against Chennai Super Kings on April 9, having him on board will boost DD's batting and bowling front. Mathews, brought in for 7.5 crore, has been in dream form of late, scoring heaps of runs in all three formats of the game, and remains an automatic choice as one of the four foreign players in the team.

Of Mathews' exploits, coach Kirsten said: "He is one of the world's best allrounders and we will use him in a way we can get the best out of him," on him being asked whether Mathews would be bowling his full quota of overs regularly."

IPL 8 chances

DD is perhaps the best all-round side among all the eight franchises. With a nice blend of both international and domestic players up their ranks, they need to take the power they possess on paper to the field. With the presence of Yuvraj, Mathews and Duminy, there's plenty of experience in the side; and Manoj Tiwary, Mishra and Kedar Jadhav have all contributed in the past. With all that star-power, DD will need to build on early momentum and then ride on the same if they are to last the distance.

Prediction

Not that this wasn't assumed in the previous two editions, but DD, with the amount of talent and experience they possess, have what it takes to make it to the playoffs, and perhaps even lift the trophy. But then again, there's a big gap between the expected performance and the one that eventually shows on the field. Team composition and balance remains the key.

Squad: JP Duminy (capt), Quinton De Kock (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Jayant Yadav, Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Jaydev Unadkat, Gurinder Sandhu, Shreyas Iyer, CM Gautam (wk), Domnic Muthuswamy, Travis Head, KS Bharat (wk), Albie Morkel, Marcus Stoinis, Zaheer Khan, KK Jiyaz.