IPL Preview - Best XI, Strengths, Weaknesses, Star Players & X-Factors and lots more of Each Team

Delhi Daredevils

Ponting will bring a winning mentality to DD

Squad

Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Shami, Prithvi Shaw, Trent Boult, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Naman Ojha, Abhishek Sharma, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Harshal Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Daniel Christian, Gurkeerat Singh, Avesh Khan, Sayan Ghosh, Sandeep Lamichhane, Chris Morris, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant

Best XI

Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant, Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell, Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris, Vijay Shankar, Amit Mishra, Md. Shami, Trent Boult, Shahbaz Nadeem

Strengths

This is the strongest Delhi Daredevil squad for a long while, but having said that the bar in this regard wasn't particularly high, to begin with. That being said Delhi's batting does seem rather solid compared to previous years. Ricky Ponting is a true winner and his appointment as a coach will send a clear message that what happened in the previous IPLs will not do. Gambhir proved to be a talisman for KKR and Daredevils will expect a similar impact from their skipper. In Morris and Munro, they have world-class options.

Weaknesses

The bowling unit really seems weak and barring Boult, the Daredevils really seem lightweight in this department. This could be their big undoing in the tournament. DD don't really have a specialist end overs bowler which is a huge negative. Rabada pulling out of the IPL will hurt DD a lot.

Prediction: DD have improved their squad in comparison to previous IPLs, but there is still a long way to go. They still seem some way off the other top teams, especially in their bowling and are unlikely to make a real push for the playoffs.