Delhi Capitals - IPL 2021 Preview

Known as IPL’s youngest team, Delhi Capitals has yet to add the IPL title on their resume. The name change in 2018 (Delhi Capitals from Delhi Daredevils) turned out to be a good charm for the franchise. They reached the playoffs for the first time after a gap of 7 years. With the re-emergence on the top and successful run in back-to-back seasons, the best betting site for IPL 10Cric has put Delhi Daredevils as the third favourite with a return of $6 for a dollar.

History of Delhi Capitals

The Delhi-based franchise was bought by the GMR group for $84 million and then sold a 50% stake to JSW Sports for $77 million. Delhi Capitals (Then Delhi Daredevils) requested IPL governing body to give an Icon status to Virender Sehwag. Under the captaincy of Sehwag, DC reached semis of the first IPL.

In the 2009 season, DC topped the points table under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir and team performances from Sehwag, AB de Villiers, Amit Mishra, and Daniel Vettori. Despite dominating the group stages, DC lost to Deccan Chargers in the semis to crash out of the season second times in the row. The IPL 2011 haunted DC after they finished 10th (the last spot in the table). Delhi turned the tables next season by finishing 1st in the points table with 22 points. But they lost both the qualifiers - one against KKR and the other against CSK.

The 2013-2018 era turned out pretty bad for DC. They finished 6th and below for every season of the IPL they played in this era.

The Ponting Project

DC brought Aussie legend, Ricky Ponting, onboard as a coach in order to revamp the squad. They retained Chris Morris, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant for the next season and brought Prithwi Shaw, Jason Roy, Trent Boult, Glenn Maxwell and used their Right to match card for Mohammed Shami & Kagiso Rabada. After spending another season at the bottom, DC finally broke the 7 years of deadlock and got qualified for the playoffs. They lost the second qualifier against CSK. In the last season of the IPL, DC reached the finals for the first time in the franchise’s history.

With changing the fortunes under the coaching of Ricky Ponting and the young squad comprising of Iyer, Pant, Shaw, Rabada, and Nortje DC has also gained few places in the IPL betting world. Currently, they are the third favourite in the betting circle.

DC IPL 2021 Auction

Delhi Capitals released 6 players including Jason Roy before the auctions. They even traded Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel to Royal Challengers Banglore. With a purse of INR 13.4 crores (USD 1.84 million), DC jumped into the auction in search of 8 players to complete the roaster. They made a successful bid for Steven Smith -the first player to get sold in this year’s auction. Smith cost them INR 2.2 crores (USD 303k). After hitting the jackpot, they tried to bring Shivam Dube and Nathan Coulter-Nile to fill the vacant spaces created after the trading of Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel. Finally, they succeeded with Umesh Yadav who was bought for his base price of INR 1 crore (USD 137k).

In the middle stages, DC signed four uncapped players for their base prices of INR 20 lakhs - Ripal Patel (Bowler), Vishnu Vinod (WK-Batsman), Manimaran Siddharth (Bowler), Lukman Meriwala (Bowler). DC fought hard to land English all-rounder Tom Curran. A battle against the SunRisers Hyderabad cost them INR 5.25 crore (USD 723k) to get the services of Tom Curran for this season. DC concluded their auction by buying another English Player Sam Billings for his base price of INR 2 crore (USD 275k).

Players out: Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy.

Players Traded: Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel to RCB

Players in: Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings.

Key Players for Delhi Capitals

Rishabh Pant: The most explosive and unorthodox batsman has had an average season last year with 343 runs at a strike rate of 113.95. But his current form at the international stage has given a clear indication that he will take the middle-order of DC to another level.

Marcus Stoinis: Stoinis played the role of the perfect all-rounder for DC last season with 352 runs at a strike rate of 148.52 and 13 wickets with an average of 21.76.

Kagiso Rabada: The most valuable player of DC and the Purple Cap holder of the last IPL season with 30 wickets at an average of 18.26. Partnering with the fellow countrymen Anrich Nortje (22 wickets at an average of 23.27) Rabada provided essential breakthroughs all over the season.

Steven Smith: Playing for his fourth IPL team, the Aussie batsman might get an added responsibility of captaining the DC team under the absence of regular team captain Shreyas Iyer. CaptainingRajasthan Royals last season, Smith scored 311 runs at a strike rate of 131.22.

Delhi Capitals Squad: Shreyas Iyer (c)*, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings*.

*Iyer & Billings will miss the first few games due to respective shoulder injuries.

Delhi Capitals Odds to Win IPL 2021 at 10CRIC

10Cric providing the best cricket betting odds has placed Delhi Capitals at the third position for IPL 2021 with odds of $6. They made it to the finals last season. But lost all 4 games against the League winners due to inexperience. The addition of Steve Smith and the loss of Shreyas Iyer due to the injury has put DC in the same position. Therefore, betting on DC will be a risk.

Expectations for IPL 2021

1. Kolkata Knight Riders: Delhi Capitals are seen as the potential winners of both games against KKR.

2. Mumbai Indians: DC lost all four games against the IPL champions last season. This season the situation is not different with DC losing all games against MI.

3. Chennai Super Kings: Another fierce rival of IPL. DC has the poorest winning percentage against CSK. This season DC might break the deadlock to win at least one of the two games against CSK comfortably.

Stay tuned for all today cricket match predictions with TheTopBookies.com!

Conclusion

The ‘Ponting Project’ has clearly worked well for the young DC squad. They have lost Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings to an injury for the first few games. With the captain yet to be decided, the DC management has a lot to look for this season to win their first IPL title.