IPL 2017: Squad strengths, weakness and prediction

Delhi Daredevils

Angelo Matthews could play a big part in the Daredevils’ campaign

Delhi Daredevils are serial underachievers of the league having reached the last four stage only thrice in 9 years. They qualified for the now defunct CL T20 twice, in 2009 and 2012. During the auction this year, they pursued the signature of Ben Stokes, only to lose him to RPS. They succeeded in grabbing a couple of other overseas all-rounders like Corey Anderson and Angelo Matthews.

Strengths: The Daredevils have a fantastic set of Indian batsmen in Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant, Karun Nair, and Sanju Samson to go with their equally impressive foreign batsman, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and Sam Billings. They also have good lower order power hitters in Carlos Brathwaite and Chris Morris, which means that their batting is good shape, at least on paper, and it remains their stronger area.

Weakness: The Daredevils' bowling is their weak link and their Indian seam bowling bench looks a little thin with the exception of Shami. They will have to rely on their spinners - Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav and Shahbaz Nadeem to deliver the goods. Further, four of their probable first choice overseas players are all South Africans and may not be available for the entire duration of the league, which may distort the balance of their final XI.

Prediction: Only some tactical magic from Rahul Dravid may see them through to the play-offs.