IPL Betting: Delhi Daredevils

IPL Betting / Andrew Hughes / 08 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

Gautam Gambhir is Delhi's new captain

"...the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium has earned a reputation as a helpful pitch to bowl on so visitors could really struggle up against the likes of Parnell, Henriques, Asish Nehra, Dirk Nannes and Ferveez Maharoof."

The IPL is almost upon us and as we count down to the greatest cricket show on earth, Andrew Hughes is assessing the chances of the eight contenders. Next up, it's the Delhi Daredevils, many people's favourites for the title

Performance Last Year

The team of the group stages, they swept all before them, winning 10 out of 14 games, two more than their nearest rival. Pre-competition favourites, they held that position in the tournament winners market right up until their semi-final. But just as in 2008, they came unstuck once the knock-out stage began, losing out to eventual winners Deccan Chargers, thanks to a typically swashbuckling innings from the brilliant Adam Gilchrist.

Players In/Out

Old boy Glen McGrath has finally hung up his bowling boots and the Daredevils have also offloaded England's Owais Shah and explosive young batsman Manoj Tiwary. They have brought in a couple of Indian spinners in Sarandeep Singh and Sarabjit Landa, as well as under 19 player Manun Sharma. But their headline purchase was South African Wayne Parnell, brought in for $610,000 via the player auction. They have also picked up promising Aussie all-rounder Moises Henriques.

Player Availability

Paul Collingwood (after 24/03)

Captain

Virender Sehwag has stood down and is replaced by his India and Delhi opening partner, Gautam Gambhir.

Key Player

Sehwag is not the greatest captain in the world and, freed of his leadership responsibilities, he should be able to do what he does best: destroy bowling.

Strengths

With Sehwag, Gambhir, Tilakaratne Dilshan, A B De Villiers and David Warner, they are loaded with top order hitters who can win games on their own. And the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium has earned a reputation as a helpful pitch to bowl on so visitors could really struggle up against the likes of Parnell, Henriques, Asish Nehra, Dirk Nannes and Ferveez Maharoof.

Weaknesses

Gambhir's captaincy is a completely unknown quantity and he is up against some of the canniest leaders around such as Shane Warne, M S Dhoni, Anil Kumble and Adam Gilchrist. And crucially, they have not strengthened the middle order, the weakness of which continually puts the star names under pressure. If they lose early wickets, the Daredevils are prone to collapse like a house of cards.

Prospects

They have the firepower with the bat and with the ball and they will sweep many teams aside during the tournament, as they did in IPL 2009. However, their lack of lower order batting could really cost them and as the favourites at [5.2] they make little appeal as a betting vehicle.