Visakhapatnam: With their respective leaders switching camps and squads undergoing major overhauls, both Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, under new captains, will be eager to make a strong start to their IPL campaign when they face off here on Monday.
For a second year running, the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium here will host two home matches for Delhi Capitals.
Pant, who had been a Delhi Capitals’ player throughout his IPL career and also their captain, left the franchise ahead of the mega auction last year and was snapped up by LSG for a record price of Rs 27 crore.
While his pay cheque will keep the Indian wicketkeeper-batter in the limelight through the course of this season, it will also present Pant an opportunity to make a strong case for himself in the white-ball formats as he didn’t get a game during the recent Champions Trophy.
On the other hand, KL Rahul, who led LSG for two years since their IPL debut, has switched to Delhi Capitals, where he would be a vital cog in their plans, not as a leader but as a key batting mainstay, with Indian all-rounder Axar Patel being appointed captain.
Like Mumbai Indians, DC too were spoilt for choices when it came to picking their captain as they also have Faf du Plessis apart from Rahul but the franchise opted for all-round Patel, whose career graph has been on a rise.
Overall, on-paper, the Capitals come across as a formidable unit for the rich mix of overseas and Indian players, while LSG have only six overseas players in their roster to work with.
Along with the vast experience of du Plessis in the batting line-up, Delhi Capitals also have Australian speedster Mitchell Starc who is coming into this IPL fresh off a break which saw him missing the Champions Trophy.
Karun Nair’s rich from in domestic circuit makes Delhi’s middle-order appear dangerous, which also boasts of Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi and the big-hitting Ashutosh Sharma.
Delhi have also bolstered their bowling line-up with frontline Indian spinners Patel and Kuldeep Yadav anchoring the spin attack, while pace department boasts of T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar and Dushmantha Chameera.
LSG, meanwhile, will be hopeful that their rich bank of Indian players mix up well with the overseas players to put together a string of wins. While Mitchell Marsh is available only as a specialist batter, LSG will hope for rich returns from the South African pair of David Miller and Aiden Markram.
In Nicholas Pooran, LSG have a perfect aggressive batter who can build innings as well as anchor chases, while Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmed could be the other Indian batters.
However, it is the bowling which is a cause of worry for LSG as most of their Indian fast bowlers — Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan and Akash Deep — are undergoing rehab for injuries.
However, LSG have been bolstered with the inclusion of Shardul Thakur, whose all-round exploits and never-say-die attitude in the Ranji Trophy indicated that the veteran all-rounder has a lot more to offer.
Thakur has been roped in to meet the damage caused by an injury to Mohsin Khan — one of LSG’s most trusted bowlers.
The 22-year-old Rajvardhan Hangargekar might get a look-in as the management looks to put out a balanced pace attack. In the spin department, Ravi Bishnoi will be expected to lead.
