As Delhi Capitals picked up David Warner in the February players’ auctions, a standout memory flashed up. It was one of those seasons when the Australian power-hitter donned the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils’ red-and-blue jersey. Batting at the Kotla, he smacked one out of the park, quite literally. The ball fell flew past the boundary and was still climbing, falling past the pavilion building and into the parking lot, next to a stationed ambulance — it was one of the biggest sixes ever recorded at this ground!
The Warner that’s coming back to Delhi Capitals now isn’t the same one who left. This is a more mature batsman, both from an international and IPL perspective. Further, in the latter arena, he has almost acquired legendary status, given the way he led Sunrisers Hyderabad, the mountain of runs he scored with them, and last but not the least, the emotional-yet-quirky social media connect he had with fans.
Delhi Capitals would want to take full advantage of the Ponting-Pant formula. Image: Sportzpics for IPL
Warner brings all of that to Delhi this time around, but the real barter for his services is in replacing Shikhar Dhawan. In that, this franchise has lost quite a few solid batting options in this mega auction upheaval. So much so, the batting order available to them bears a completely different look altogether. Dhawan’s consistent runs at the top, Shreyas Iyer’s reliability, Marcus Stoinis’ maverick knocks, Ajinkya Rahane’s replacement opportunities and Shimron Hetmyer’s chutzpah — all of them are gone.
Delhi’s retention strategy left room for argument. Iyer was let go because they committed to a different captaincy direction, Prithvi Shaw’s youthful energy was preferred over Dhawan’s experience, Axar Patel’s all-round abilities over Ravichandran Ashwin’s spin wizardry and Anrich Nortje’s consistency over Kagiso Rabada’s pace. Stoinis and Hetmyer probably weren’t even on the retention radar, and the carefully assembled all-weather Delhi squad was shredded down to bare bones. Thereafter, their scattergun approach to the players’ auctions didn’t help at all.
In the batting department, Delhi will be hoping Warner can provide the experience, consistency and leadership that Dhawan and Rahane did. The big-hitting Rovman Powell will bring the Caribbean flavour, while Mitchell Marsh’s T20 stock is at an all-time high. Tim Seifert is a clever buy — he won’t get to keep wickets, but he can surely fire that batting order with some quick runs. Further, they will hope Lungi Ngidi and Mustafizur Rahman can provide some of the magic lost in Rabada. Like any other team, Delhi will be hoping their mix-and-match best-case strategy in terms of overseas recruits fires up properly.
Much of it would be dependent on availability. Australian players, busy engaging with Pakistan, are expected to miss a major chunk at the start – Warner won’t be available until 6 April, while Marsh won’t be available until 15 April. By that time, Delhi would know what they are missing, or not missing, and coach Ricky Ponting has a tough time ahead to conjure up the proper team combination until his Australian reinforcements arrive. As such, Delhi Capitals will also be hoping that their Indian bets pay off.
There are three key Indian names among their 2022 recruits — Yash Dhull, Shardul Thakur and Chetan Sakariya. A solid Indian core is the key for any IPL franchise to be successful. Along with Pant, Shaw and Patel, this looks to be the making of Delhi Capitals’ resident core group of Indian players around which they will build the next 3-5 years.
In that light, Thakur is the most crucial buy of the three. A bowling all-rounder with a bagful of tricks with the ball and whose batting graph is soaring, Thakur could provide the balance within Delhi’s playing eleven. Ponting might even be tempted to use him in the manner Chennai Super Kings deploy Ravindra Jadeja — higher up in the batting order with a pinch-hitting element to boot. At INR 10.75 crore, Thakur is potentially worth every penny.
The other two are fledglings in comparison but can have an equal impact. After his Under-19 triumph in West Indies, Dhull declared how he wanted to be in the senior Indian team within the next 15 months. Three Ranji hundreds later, including a double ton, he is well on his way and the IPL could be his speedy ticket like with most other youngsters. Sakariya is an example of the same — from being nobody to IPL big-time to playing for India, he went up the gears quickly in 2020-21. For Delhi now, Sakariya provides that much-needed left-arm pace option and it will be interesting to see how Ponting moulds him.
There is another set of Indian players who would be eager to find quick relevance in the Delhi Capitals’ set up too. Kuldeep Yadav is top of that list, and another prospect to watch out for under Ponting’s tutelage. Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Srikar Bharat and Kamlesh Nagarkoti will be hoping for marked opportunities in order to rise through the ranks. Khaleel Ahmed’s case is a weird one — Delhi already has two first-choice left-arm pacers and this was a buy to mess around with Mumbai Indians in the auctions. They are now stuck with Ahmed, who is surplus to requirements but might come handy, as you never know in cricket.
Talking about opportunities to make a mark, there is Prithvi Shaw to contend with. For one, he has to re-forge a set opening pairing with Warner, this time with a partner who is a more attacking batter than Dhawan. Then, as a retained player, he has that INR 7.5 crore price tag to prove adequately. That comes with scoring runs and leading the batting line-up for your franchise. Most of all, Shaw is at that juncture where he has to make that step up to the big league. For too long, he has been an also-ran, knocking intermittently on the international doors only for him to not grab the opportunity when presented. It is make or break time for Shaw.
In that, he has a trailblazing path set alight by none other than Pant. Delhi Capitals have simply gambled everything on his rising fortunes, and any franchise would have undoubtedly done the same. There can be debate about whether letting go of Shreyas Iyer was the right call, but such conversations are never one-sided. Iyer perhaps didn’t want to stay at Delhi without captaincy, and that is down to pure luck. He got injured, Delhi chose Pant and stayed with him on Iyer’s return, and thereafter all concerned have never looked back.
For Pant, in particular, it was in keeping with how his fortunes changed in 2021. From setting Australia alight, to massive improvement in his keeping style, to IPL captaincy, to increased consistency in his batting, Pant has grown in stature, confidence, experience, et al.
It could mean a change in batting role — in Iyer’s injured absence during the first half of IPL 2021, Pant batted quite a bit at number three and then continued juggling with that position even when Iyer was back for the second half. Now, with Delhi reassembling their batting line-up, more batting responsibility lies with Pant, especially when it comes to hitting prowess. And at number three, Pant can do the most damage.
Arguably, Pant is a more balanced and rounded batsman than he was a couple of seasons ago. With the weight of captaincy on his shoulders, there is a different side to his cricketing persona that is now starting to come to the fore. Leadership has that impact on many cricketers, and Ponting knows this only too well. It is a trait the coach would want to nurture further in his young captain, and Delhi Capitals would want to take full advantage of the Ponting-Pant formula.
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