Delhi Capitals Preview IPL 2024

Last year's IPL proved a challenge for a DC side that struggled across most departments. The individual performances of David Warner and Axar Patel stood out against the back drop of the remainder of the squad who were average at best.

The resulting 9th placed finish meant that changes were inevitable but the Capitals failed to get a lot of bids over the line in what turned out to be a bit of a frenetic auction.

Rishabh Pant looks set to return following 18 months away from the game due to the injuries sustained during a horrific car crash. Are DC fans pinning too much hope on him being able to make a significant impact after such a long break?

DC Review of 2023

The IPL 2023 stats further illustrate the comments above that no area of DC's game functioned well last season.

Powerplay bowling was their stronger suit but the economy rate in particular can be taken with a pinch of salt when considering that opposition teams were routinely chasing below average scores when playing DC and therefore had no reason to take risks while the field restrictions were in place.

David Warner was responsible for 6 of the 14 x 50+ scores DC made last season but to be honest he looks like a player past his best, struggling to really dominate attacks in the way that other premium top-order batsmen did.

Still, the platforms he did lay were not exploited by the Capitals middle and lower order and it's no great surprise that the likes of Roussow and Powell have been cut from the squad when you consider that DC had the worst run-rate during the last 5 overs of any side in IPL 2023.

Prithvi Shaw was retained although it's perhaps difficult to see why given his poor returns over the last couple of seasons and what appears to be a personality clash between himself and head coach Ricky Ponting.

On that front, it was perhaps a surprise that Ponting kept his job at DC and the Capitals appear to be yet another IPL franchise with so many managers, coaches and directors that it's difficult to really know who is calling the shots and what the vision for the team is. Ganguly also retains his role coming into IPL 2024 but his former India teammate Ajit Agarkar has received a promotion which only serves to muddy the water further.

On the bowling front, penetration was DC's major problem but when your batsmen are so consistently failing to put runs on the board then it does become an issue for any team to apply scoreboard pressure.

Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel were steady in the middle overs going at under 8s but only managed 20 wickets between them across the 14 games.

Meanwhile none of DC's many seam options played the full quota of matches as they chopped and changed in the hope of finding success. The Capitals were ultimately left with Mitch Marsh as their top wicket taker (12) and Ishant Sharma as the leader of their attack which tells you all you need to know about their struggles in IPL 2023....

DC IPL 2024 auction

My assessment of Delhi Capitals auction at the time was that it represented an unmitigated disaster and my opinion on the matter hasn't softened.

They bid on a huge number of players (19 by my count) including many of the names who ultimately went for big money but didn't end up securing any of those star names. That fact becomes even more confusing when you consider that come the end of the auction they still had 9 Crore in their back pocket and instead of getting the premium players early in the auction they were left picking at the scraps that no one else wanted at the end!

They did acquire the likes of Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs and Jhye Richardson but whether these 3 are capable of filling the obvious gaps in their squad from last season remains to be seen.

Brook for example scored an IPL century in his debut season for SRH last year but generally struggled to dominate slow bowlers. It'll be interesting to see where he slots into the side because top 3 looks like his preferred position at the moment. It was also not great news for DC when the Englishman returned home from the current Test tour of India due to personal reasons.

Elsewhere Stubbs has a huge amount of talent but it will be a big ask for him to pull DC's middle order around following the shambles that we saw in IPL 2023.

Meanwhile, Jhye Richardson looks like the latest in a long line of Aussie cricketers who can rely on Ponting for an IPL contract even where they seem ill suited to the conditions they will regularly find themselves playing in.

DC Squad strengths and weaknesses IPL 2024

Career T20 records v types of bowling and in phases of the game

The obvious problem once again for the Capitals continues to be who is going to dominate the middle overs for them particularly against slower bowling?

The only players who have consistently shown across their careers that they are capable of doing so are Warner and Pant. The former then has an incredible amount of responsibility resting on his shoulders to not get out in the powerplay and that in itself can limit the Capital's attacking intent while the field restrictions are in place.

Last year, we saw Phil Salt come in and play (as he always does) with a very attacking mindset during the powerplay, allowing Warner to take on that anchor role. Will we see something similar this year and if so who will be tasked with going hard in the first 6 overs? DC certainly have plenty of potential options in Brook, Dull, Hope and Marsh although none of them have really played in that position for any significant period.

The only man who has done it successfully is Prithvi Shaw who has the best career strike rate in the powerplay amongst DC's batting options. His fall from grace in the last couple of seasons has mirrored that of the Capitals more generally. In his last 18 IPL innings Shaw has continued to score at a strike rate of 144 but is averaging just 21. He and DC will need more than a few nice little cameos in IPL 2024.

As is the case with other franchise, at least half of DC's established batting options are better suited to playing in the top 3. That is likely to mean that at least one of them will be shunted down the order into a position that does not favour their skills while beyond the likes of Pant, Stubbs and Axar Patel their middle order options look very limited. If 1 or 2 of those players don't hit form then what do DC do?

The finisher role is also a problem for the Capitals. Axar Patel was often pencilled in to perform it last season and coped admirably but in comparison to the kind of hitting power that most other sides can muster in those final 5 overs then he is like a peashooter coming up against a full battery of cannons.

Career T20 bowling stats by phase of the game

Bowling wise, lets start with the positives. The Capital's spin options continue to look strong with Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in the side. It's no great surprise that they were the only 2 front line bowlers to play in all 14 matches last season and you'd imagine they'll be the first names on the team sheet again in IPL 2024.

We know that Axar Patel is not a massive turner of the ball and his role is more to contain teams particularly during that middle over phase. However, DC would be hoping for more penetration from Kuldeep who managed just 10 wickets last season. To a large extent, that is less to do with his personal performance and more to do with the shortcomings of a team that just cannot put their premium spinner into match situations where he is on top.

Outside of the spin department, DC's options look thinner and weaker.

Anrich Nortje missed the World Cup and the more recent SA20 due to injury and as the only bowler really capable of contributing during any phase of the game he would be a massive miss for them.

In Ahmed, Richardson and Sharma, DC do have plenty of seamers suited to bowling in the powerplay but their weaknesses later in the innings are likely to be exposed again if 2 or more of them feature in the same team. Mukesh Kumar also did a lot of bowling in the powerplay for DC last season but his 12 overs in that phase of the game went for 103 runs and resulted in just a single wicket.

DC had the 2nd worst bowling economy at the death last season and if Nortje is not fit to play in all their matches this year then I'd expect that this will be an area of the game they struggle in once again.

The final point to consider is Rishabh Pant who is set to return and captain the team. They will certainly need his leadership qualities not to mention his run scoring if they are set to improve on last season.

What we do know is that Pant has recently begun a series of 'match simulation activities' (whatever that means) in a bid to be ready for the start of the IPL next month but that so far that has not included him keeping wicket. Given that he has not played any competitive cricket since December 2022, it may well be that Pant starts IPL 2024 as a specialist batsmen to at least remove the immediate physical and mental burden of playing as a keeper/batter/captain.

With a limited group of senior players and a few selection/injury problems already presenting themselves then Pant could also be key to helping some of the younger Indian players who'll need to be brought into the side this season.

DC IPL 2024 Predictions

It's difficult to see how Delhi Capitals are going to improve much on last season's results and worryingly for them is the fact that several sides who finished in the bottom half of the league in 2023 appear to have gotten stronger over the close season.

A very confused auction is perhaps symptomatic of a franchise that is struggling to find an identity something which is not helped by the very complex management structure they have in place.

With question marks over how much of the season key players like Pant, Nortje and Brook can take part in, a squad that already had a few noticeable weaknesses is beginning to look threadbare before a ball has been bowled.

It'd take a miracle for DC to make the playoffs but you never know, they might come away with the wooden spoon...

Predicted finish: 10th