Indian batsmen must step up for Capitals: Shikhar
The team that wins the trophy is the one that has the best balance. Our team this year is also very balanced as we have good all-rounders, spinners and batsmen. SHIKHAR DHAWAN, On the squad
NEWDELHI: With the Indian bowlers in their ranks quite weak, it is the department revamped Delhi Capitals are likely to fill when it comes to fielding the permitted four foreign players in the eleven.
Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan feels the onus will thus be on the domestic batsman to step up and take responsibility. The left-handed batsman is returning to the Delhi franchise after 10 years, having played for the then Delhi Daredevils in 2008 before featuring in Mumbai Indians in 2009 and 2010 and in Hyderabad after that.
“In IPL, the team that wins the trophy is always the one that has the best balance in the squad. Our team this year is also very balanced as we have good allrounders, spinners and batsmen. The most important thing for us will be that our Indian batsmen play well. Our top 4-5 batsmen are Indian, so I am expecting a great season ahead,” said the 33-year-old from Delhi.
Delhi Capitals will hope they get to play fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult and bowling all-rounder Chris Morris together. They can also include Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. That’ll leave the burden of batting on Indians Dhawan, youngsters Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, besides Hanuma Vihari.
Dhawan has been scoring close to 500 runs in each of the past three seasons -- he was part of Sunrisers’ 2016 title win. He is elated to make a comeback in his home town. He took the field on Sunday, playing in an internal practice game.
“It’s like a second home-coming for me. It’s a very happy feeling for me to come back to my home city after spending 10 seasons away in the IPL,” said Dhawan, who shook off his struggle for runs of late in India colours with a big century in the Mohali ODI.
Ferozeshah Kotla has been my home ground since early days, and I will be doing my best to perform for the team as I know the conditions and pitches well.
“I will also be looking to help our younger players get used to the pressure of playing in such a big tournament and hopefully I can spur them on to perform on the field to the best of their abilities.”
Skipper Shreyas Iyer was pitch-forked to that role midway through the 2018 season after a misfiring Gautam Gambhir step down. Shreyas said openers’ early failures last season hurt Delhi, who finished last.
“At the start of 2018, we weren’t getting great starts, especially from the openers. As the tournament progressed, we did well with the openers and gained momentum. After that, I took over the captaincy. We won four out of seven and that really helped us. The rest of the matches were close games. At the end of the day, all these are learnings,” the prolific Mumbai batsman told a media interaction.
With Dhawan in and Prithvi Shaw keen to impress after his ankle injury, the opening department should be taken care of.