Delhi Capitals’ Dream IPL Squad… That Only Delhi Could Flub

In nearly two decades of the Indian Premier League’s existence, its most baffling enigma after MS Dhoni has been its Delhi franchise. Based in India’s illustrious and infamous and beloved and reviled capital, its legacy has a sense of unfinished business to it—the look of a wasteful, complacent talent that got away. Like I wrote earlier, it’s a tiring experience to watch the franchise turn up every year and perform like a hopeless also-ran in a two-tier competition.

This year, one look at the list of players they have could once again fan flames of miserable hope in the cold hearts of hopeless believers. They’re captained by Axar Patel, the skilful India allrounder with a host of tricks up his sleeve, known variously as “dependable” and “crisis guy” and other monikers. They have KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav, two premier India seniors capable of walking into any top T20 side. Among their newest recruits is the South African duo of David Miller and Lungi Ngidi—both proven limited-overs veterans with a bulletproof understanding of the IPL’s competitive ecosystem. Throw in yorker specialist T Natarajan, Jammy & Kashmir swing sensation Auqib Nabi and the towering Kiwi fast bowler Kyle Jamieson, and the Capitals have a like-never-before pace diversity in their ranks.

Among the most exciting new additions to the squad, however, are Nitish Rana and Prithvi Shaw. In the case of Rana, it’s a long-due fulfilment of a void that has long ailed this franchise—international India cricketers who come from the home city. After the exits of players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, Delhi have failed to dominate the league like in their first couple of years. Virat Kohli, of course, was inexplicably not picked in the first draft by the management.

Rana, a feisty, seasoned circuit regular, has hopped a few franchises to arrive finally at his home base, which he also captains in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Someone who’s done well in the league playing for Kolkata Knight Riders and with a great game against spin, Rana could help cultivate the cultural glue that’s so essential to a league franchise.

Similarly—come at me if you want—but the return of Shaw, who went unsold in the previous season and has a free fall from the highest echelon of Indian cricket, will have me watching closely. Shaw is an abrasive character, an ambitiously designed firearm that fires like a countrymade pistol. His missing status of late in top-level cricket has taken off the wheels off the rollerskates that are his reputation. You may say I’m a dreamer, but he could well be the Jamie Tartt of this team.

Also making his IPL debut (surprising, really, that he wasn’t here earlier) for them is a guy Sri Lanka has counted on greatly in the search for their next batting great. Blessed with natural flair and some memorable performances at the international level, Nissanka is the most key of the next-generation players that have kept our neighbours afloat as Asia’s second-best cricketing side. He might have been dismissed for 1 in the first game but his consistency for Sri Lanka could be trusted to translate for his IPL side.

But it’s not as if Delhi have not had squads stuffed with blockbuster players in the past. Their previous iteration—the Daredevils—as fans could still be seen fondly remembering on social forums, was where AB de Villiers, Kevin Pietersen, Morne Morkel and Pat Cummins flourished. Glenn Maxwell and David Warner began their IPL careers with them. They were served by the brightest-burning phases of high-mass stars like Netherlands tearaway Dirk Nannes and Protea enforcers Chris Morris and Anrich Nortje. Ardent DC fans wouldn’t forget how in 2017, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer combined to form a core of explosive future Indian batting.

The familiar question, then, is: what seems different this time? It is the overfamiliar promise of the kind of balance that is common to so many trophy-winning sides. In players like Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi and skipper Axar Patel, this side has the rich nucleus of home-groomed talent that is so crucial to competitive sporting resilience. In Rana, KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc—whose full-time availability, however, like so many English and Australian cricketers, remains suspect, not to mention Ben Duckett this time around and Harry Brook bailing for two years straight—they have a useful set of travelling seniors to temper the sputtering.

The presence of many fiery candidates eager to prove their worth could mean that Rahul might have to rein it in. The senior India batter seemed to be in swashbuckling mode last season, but if he and Stubbs can keep the batting dominos balanced, it could augur well for Delhi. The franchise’s faith in Uttar Pradesh star Rizvi paid off in their first game versus Lucknow this season. Rizvi, known on the local circuit as the ‘right-handed Suresh Raina’, played a deliciously paced T20 innings and delivered them from the doldrums.

The ingredients are there. But as 18 seasons of the league have shown us, it doesn’t take much to upset the apple cart. Delhi’s Season 19 dream team will need shrew strategizing, confident bluffs and, if they do make it to the playoffs, careful concealment of all their cards.