The Delhi Capitals side has a strong platform to build up on from the 2019 season, when it finished in the playoffs. After last year’s auction and pre-season trade, the Capitals have added more experience and firepower to the squad in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer.
The top six of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Hetmyer, Rishabh Pant and Stoinis is among the strongest Twenty20 (T20) batting units you could come across. The inclusion of Hetmyer and Stoinis could address the lower-middle-order problems it faced last season, when both Colin Munro and Colin Ingram failed to fire with the bat.
FOLLOW | IPL 2020 COVERAGE
It will be interesting to see where Ajinkya Rahane, who prefers batting as an opener or in the top four, fits into this batting lineup. Last season, both Dhawan and Rahane put up similar numbers as openers for the Capitals and Rajasthan Royals, respectively, and unfortunately the latter might have to settle for a backup role.
Ashwin will add variety to the spin-bowling department and can be the right foil to leggie Sandeep Lamichhane, who impressed with 12 wickets in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Left-arm spinner Axar Patel is a handy batsman lower down the order and averages nearly 12 wickets per season in six years.
Kagiso Rabada was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament last season, and will be back to lead the bowling attack alongside Ishant Sharma.
Lalit Yadav, the 23-year-old all-rounder, is a relative unknown commodity who will be featuring in the IPL for the first time after being signed in the last auction. In his domestic T20 career with Delhi, he averages close to 30 runs per innings, while he has maintained an economy rate of less than 7 in 30 matches.
All-rounder Harshal Patel’s nippy medium pace and off-cutters will make him handy on the United Arab Emirates pitches. He had a successful Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament last season where he scored 374 runs and picked up 19 wickets.
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