Name: Delhi Capitals- Captain: Rishabh Pant
- Head Coach: Ricky Ponting
- Home Ground: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
- Squad members: 24
- Best result: Finalists in IPL 2020
- IPL 2020 result: Runner-up
Here’s another one of those few Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises that has played every season but is yet to walk away with any silverware. They’ve tried everything including personnel changes and even rebranding from Daredevils to Delhi Capitals a couple of seasons ago. This team has young blood and a touch of fearlessness, which they’ve recently combined with a little bit of experience as well, making them a top contender.
SEE ALSO: List of bookmakers accepting bets from India
The main drawback about this team is that they don’t have many players who have been a part of winning franchises. So you can expect them to qualify for the IPL 2021 playoffs but can they keep their nerve in pressure games or knockout scenarios? Another blow came with Shreyas Iyer being ruled out of IPL 2021 because of his shoulder injury and while there were more experienced options, Capitals decided to appoint Rishabh Pant as stand-in captain!
Pant is coming into IPL 2021 with a boosted sense of confidence after some brilliant performances in Australia and then at home against England too, across formats. Ajinkya Rahane has a lot of pressure on him because he only got 113 runs in 9 games last season. This year, he’ll play more matches as a replacement for Iyer but it’s a tough spot again because he will be in the middle order again, where acceleration is required more than anchoring!
SEE ALSO: List of fantasy sports websites in India
Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan will open for the Capitals and this partnership will surely create a few waves in IPL 2021. Dhawan is coming off 2 fifties in 3 ODIs against England last month while Shaw, though his international performances were bad, has been on fire in the domestic circuit. He amassed 827 runs in only 8 games in the 2021 Vijay Hazare Trophy which included 4 centuries and a record top score of 227*, which is quite something.
Among the overseas group of players, the South African pacers pick themselves because of great pace and plenty of wickets in IPL 2020. Kagiso Rabada won the Purple Cap award and while we’ve never seen anyone defend it, he’s likely to keep up the wicket-taking trend with 30 scalps to his name last season. Close behind him was Anrich Nortje who ended with 22 wickets and 4th in terms of most wickets in the overall tournament.
While a lot of Australians were dropping out of IPL 2021, Steve Smith is already training with the side and he’s someone who will be another automatic pick just because of his name and because he’s one of the best in the world. He was purchased from Rajasthan Royals for whom he scored 311 runs in 14 games last season. If Smith isn’t hitting the right rhythm, there’s Shimron Hetmyer but we think the latter may sit out for most of the season.
DC – IPL 2021 Betting
Considering they were last year’s finalists, IPL betting odds of 6.00 pre-tournament on FunBet is quite a steal. Coming back to the overseas quota, they’re likely to have Marcus Stoinis as the last overseas player in the best eleven because he bats and bowls, and that helps the dynamics of the side. With a good pace attack in place, Tom Curran and Chris Woakes are likely to miss out while Sam Billings may also spend some time on the bench in IPL 2021!
I’m super excited to see Axar Patel in IPL 2021. He’s been around since quite a while now but in the last few months, he’s made his India debut and got a few 5-fers and his confidence has probably sky-rocketed. If you are making a fantasy side, be sure to include Axar in that team. With him and Ravi Ashwin as the spinners in the side, we think the experience of leg-spinner Amit Mishra may end up being wasted this season.
DELHI CAPITALS IPL 2021 squad: Rishabh Pant (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes, Anrich Nortje, Steve Smith, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Umesh Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Avesh Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Lalit Yadav,
Shreyas Iyer.
They’ve been growing each year. From bottom of the table to making the playoffs and even making the final in IPL 2020, they’ve been making giant strides. They have all it takes to go one step further in IPL 2021 but so much is going to depend on the captaincy which has been thrown into the hands of this Delhi youngster. For all updates on DC’s IPL 2021 season, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
Register on 10Cric and get INR 10,000 first deposit bonus
