Delhi Capitals will begin their Indian Premier League campaign on March 27 when the side takes on five-time champions Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium. The Rishabh Pant-led side came close to the coveted IPL trophy in the past three years; however, Capitals remains one of the only three sides (from the original eight; others being Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore) yet to lift the IPL title. And ahead of the new edition, ‘trouble’ is already brewing for the Capitals.
The DC failed in their pursuit for star batters like Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan in the mega auction that preceded the IPL 2022. While Iyer was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for a hefty sum of INR 12.25 crore, Punjab Kings succeeded in the signature of Shikhar Dhawan (INR 8.25 crore). The Capitals brought back David Warner to their squad, and also invested on overseas players like Mitchell Marsh and Rovman Powell in addition to Indian domestic batters like KS Bharat, Yash Dhull and Mandeep Singh among others.
However, the Capitals will be without Mitchell Marsh for the opening stage of the season as he will be on international duty in the limited-overs series against Pakistan. Powell, meanwhile, is currently injured and facing a race against time to be fit for the season opener. According to Aakash Chopra, this could be trouble for the Capitals.
“Mitchell Marsh is not available, so you are now looking at Yash Dhull, Kona Bharat, Mandeep Singh maybe. These are not really the like-for-like replacements,” Chopra said in Star Sports ‘Game Plan’.
“You don’t have Shikhar (Dhawan), you don’t have Shreyas Iyer either. So, when you look at the batting order and the availability of the overseas players, I think Delhi is in trouble. When they start, they’re not starting strongly,” Aakash further added.
The Delhi Capitals had reached the playoffs in the previous edition of the tournament and Rishabh Pant was retained as the side’s captain ahead of the 2022 season.
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