DC look to cash in on imminent return of Warner, Nortje to the fold

In a bid to put the disappointment of losing against Gujarat Titans (GT) swiftly behind them, Delhi Capitals (DC) are set to welcome David Warner and Anrich Nortje back. Warner has not played T20s since his heroics in the T20 World Cup and will be a welcome addition to DC’s XI. A record that would put many batters to shame, Warner despite a poor Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season, is still one of the major threats to the opposition.

Along with Prithvi Shaw at the other end, DC could very well have the most destructive opening pair this season, especially in the powerplay.

While close to 70% of Shaw’s runs have come in the powerplay, Warner is someone who believes in giving himself time early on and then go berserk. On 45% of the times, Warner has faced over 30 deliveries in his innings as he believes in batting as deep as possible.

However, it will not be an easy task when he comes up against Ravi Bishnoi, who has dismissed the southpaw twice in four balls in the IPL.

Barring last season, Warner’s consistency especially since the 2014 season has been truly staggering. He has managed 550 runs in every single season and in 2016, he scored 848 runs at 60.6 to help Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) claim their maiden title.

Nortje too has been instrumental in DC’s success in the last couple of seasons, prompting them to retain him. In 2020 – a season in which DC made it to the final for the first time – the South African pacer snapped up 22 wickets at 23.3 and in the following season, despite playing half the matches, he still managed 12 wickets at 15.6.

Nortje has picked up 12 wickets at 23.8 in the powerplay since IPL 2020, which are among the best. 

With Nortje returning, he could relieve Shardul Thakur from bowling a huge chunk of his overs in the powerplay. Shardul has bowled 50% of his overs in the powerplay this season, while last year, MS Dhoni largely used him in middle phase (45.1% overs). We could once again see Shardul returning to bowl most of his overs in overs between in the middle and the death, where he tasted a lot of success last season.

Switching from one fast bowler to another, LSG’s Avesh Khan has been among the highest wicket-takers in the IPL since 2021. Avesh has picked up at least five wickets across phases since 2021, which is something that only Shardul Thakur and Kagiso Rabada have managed to do.

He is especially suited for the death, where his 16 wickets from 19 innings are only behind Harshal Patel (21) and has done so at an impressive economy rate of nine. His success could boil down to the fact that he has bowled the most yorkers in IPL since the last season.

Hooda and Badoni: LSG’s pillars in the middle-order

After years of inconsistency, Deepak Hooda has finally found his feet at LSG, where he has already gone on to play a couple of vital knocks for his side. He has already slammed 119 runs at 39.67 this season and is well-positioned to overhaul his tally of 160 runs from 11 innings he registered last year.

He has built his innings extremely well, especially taking on the pacers, against whom he averages 51 and has struck at 155 this season

Young Ayush Badoni, on the other hand, has played according to the situation. On his debut against GT, Badoni scored 54 off 41 when his side was struggling at 29 for 4. In the next couple of matches, his side were in a much better position, yet, Badoni left a mark. Chasing 210 against CSK, Badoni smashed an unbeaten 9-ball 19 to take his side home and in the next game against SRH, he scored a brisk 19, to push his side to a match-winning total.

After his IPL debut, he said Gautam Gambhir had backed him a great deal and would persist with him in the long run. Badoni has so far at least, proved his mettle at this level.

Spin trouble for LSG openers?

LSG openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock could be in for one of their biggest challenges this season so far. Rahul, with a strike-rate of just 107 has struggled to get going against orthodox spinners. 

However, Rahul has been the most successful batter in IPL since 2020, having notched up 1,404 runs at 56.16. Dismissing Rahul early would certainly be key as he like Warner are known to bat deep and take their side to safe waters.

De Kock, on the other hand, has been dismissed everytime he has come up against Chinaman bowlers. In fact, de Kock has managed just nine runs in 13 balls against Chinaman bowlers. 

DC skipper Rishabh Pant would be licking his fingers at the prospect of getting them out early as he has Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav at his disposal. Other than Kuldeep, De Kock has come up against Shivik Kaushik and D’Arcy Short, who have all dismissed him once.

Safe to say, Rahul vs Axar and de Kock vs Kuldeep would be the contest to watch out for early on.

It has been a stop-start season for DC so far but with some big stars returning to the fold, it could set the tone for the rest of the season for them. For LSG though, after a rusty start against GT, winning three on the bounce would certainly do the new franchise a world of good.

Probable XIs:

LSG: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Andrew Tye, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan

DC: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman