IPL 8, Know Your Team: Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils

Present Squad

JP Duminy (c), Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Imran Tahir, Albie Morkel, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton De Kock, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jaydev Unadkat, Gurinder Sandhu, Shreyas Iyer, CM Gautam, Dominic Muthuswamy, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Kona Srikar Bharat, KK Jiyaz(IPL 2015)

Last year's squad

Kevin Pietersen (c), Mayank Agarwal, JP Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Milind Kumar, Ross Taylor, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Murali Vijay, Jimmy Neesham, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Jayant Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Quinton de Kock, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Siddarth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, Wayne Parnell, Mohammed Shami, HS Sharath, Rahul Sharma, Rahul Shukla, Jaydev Unadkat, Imran Tahir

Looking back: IPL-7 Results

With two wins in 14 matches, the Daredevils had a forgettable IPL. With Kevin Pietersen leading the team, Delhi never got going in the tournament. The team had too many weakness, hence, stumbled to a bottom of the table finish.

Looking forward: IPL-8

Delhi Daredevils walked into the 2015 auctions with the fattest purse and they made full use of it. They went shopping and shopped big. The Daredevils paid a record Rs 16 crore to buy Indian superstar all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, Rs 7.5 crore from Sri Lanka captain and all-rounder Angelo Mathews and then another Rs 4 crore for veteran India pacer, Zaheer Khan. The GMR owned franchise is looking for a fresh start and with their massive splurge and a new captain in JP Duminy, have shown that they mean business.

Prediction:

Another tough season ahead. Too many new players. A team needs time to gel and changing the core hardly helps that cause. The Daredevils definitely plan to put on a show but against settled sides like Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, King XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, it might be an uphill task.