The Delhi Capitals are one of those unlucky teams who’ve never managed to win the prestigious IPL trophy in any of its 14 editions that have been played so far. Although Delhi has shown some improvement in their performances over the last couple of seasons, the side has some way or the other always kept on losing its path and ended up missing their aim in the majority of the season in the past.
The franchise has always tried to give its best in the auctions prior to every IPL season and build up a strong squad by drafting in a good set of players making an intelligent amount of the budget they have. In spite of all their efforts, they haven’t been able to achieve desired results anytime in their recent past. Just like the other previous seasons, Delhi would once again be looking forward to entering the IPL this season with the hope to turn things around and to everyone’s surprise, lift the IPL trophy for the first time in their history.
To achieve this impossible-looking task the Delhi based franchise needs to gather a lot of strong mentalities and start working on their squad right from the beginning. To everyone’s knowledge, the reorganization of the team lineup commences right from the top, that is the opening pair. Delhi as everyone knows had included several star batsmen in their squad during the auctions and are thus very much likely to have a good set of options to choose from as to who they shall employ upon the task of opening the innings for them this season.
Given below are three of the most probable pairs which shall open the batting for Delhi Capitals in this IPL season:-
1. David Warner and Prithvi Shaw
The first possible opening pair for the Delhi Capitals this season shall be David Warner and Prithvi Shaw. The Under 19 world cup winning captain for India, Prithvi Shaw has been a regular member of the Capitals for quite some seasons now.
Having him in the opening slot must not be much of a doubt to the management since the 22-year-old has been displaying fantastic abilities opening the batting for the franchise for the past few seasons. Meanwhile, after having missed out on an in-form Shikhar Dhawan who was bought by the Punjab Kings in the auction for 8.5 crores, the most effective and equivalent option instead will be a certain David Warner who was involved in the squad for a good amount of 6.25 crores by the capitals.
To everyone’s knowledge, the Australian batsmen have already watched his name in the IPL history books with the number of runs he’s kept scoring as an opener in the league for seasons together and has been a Sunrisers Hyderabad legend earlier since winning them their maiden IPL trophy in 2016. Thus the duo of Prithvi Shaw and David Warner seems more than enough for the Delhi Capitals to stop any opposition bowling lineup in this IPL season.
David Warner (IPL Stats):-
Matches – 150, Runs – 25449, Average – 41.6, Strike Rate – 140.0
Prithvi Shaw (IPL Stats):-
Matches – 53, Runs – 1305, Average – 24.6, Strike Rate – 146.3
2. David Warner and Tim Seifert
Another feasible option to go with for the capitals shall be the combination of David Warner and Tim Seifert. The Kiwi batsman has played several fine knocks while opening the batting for New Zealand in the T20Is before.
Seifert who had the unique ability to torment bowlers and send them to all parts of the ground early on in the innings during the powerplay overs might be handy for the Capitals. Having two such explosive opening batsmen at the top of the order shall provide Delhi with the platform needed for their middle-order batsman to run riot in the middle overs so as to reach a huge total by the end of the 20 overs.
The left-right combination of Seifert and Warner shall surely not let the bowlers settle down at any point during their spells and thus might prove to be an effective move by the team management. Thus the above-mentioned opening pair shall also be of great value to the team in case they’re provided with the opportunity to open the innings together for the side.
Tim Seifert (T20I Stats):-
Matches – 40, Runs – 753, Average – 23.5, Strike Rate – 129.8
3. David Warner and Mandeep Singh
Another choice that seems to be a kind of out of the box for the Capitals shall be to go with Mandeep Singh as Warner’s opening partner. Mandeep Singh who has previous experiences of opening the batting for other sides in the IPL earlier can be of good use to the team on certain occasions.
The batsmen have played quite a handful of good knocks while opening the batting both in domestic cricket as well as in IPL for the Punjab Kings during the past seasons. His versatile batting nature shall help the rotation of strike when needed and thus provide David warner with a certain freedom to go for the big hits early in the innings.
This left-right combination too thus wouldn’t be a bad choice to move on with for the Delhi Capitals this season.
Mandeep Singh(IPL Stats):-
Matches – 105, Runs – 1674, Average – 22.2, Strike Rate – 124.2
Our Prediction: Although each of the above-mentioned opening pairs shall be equally feasible and easy to avail for the Delhi Capitals in this season of the IPL, the opening pair which in our opinion shall be most suitable for the side is the one consisting of David Warner and Prithvi Shaw.
The young right-hander has shown the most efficiency while opening the innings in the past for the side in the past few seasons as he stitched several important partnerships with his former opening partner Shikhar Dhawan in the seasons earlier. David Warner on the other hand seems to be a boon to the Delhi batting lineup who is most suitable to fit in Shikhar’s place in the opening slot.
The duo can surely manage the first few overs and probably put pressure on the bowlers with their unique style of counter-attacking batting from the first delivery of the innings. Thus the Warner-Prithvi duo in our books shall be the most appropriate option to open the batting for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022.
Also Read:- IPL 2022: Top 3 Possible Opening Partnerships for Chennai Super Kings