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Forget this years’ squad or those in the last 6, they have
little to do with the results.
The problem’s with the DD management and whoever’s been
advising them, at the auctions and on the ground.
In IPL-7, they have arrived once again at their worst
overseas’ buy ever – Ross Taylor. DD spent an entire season playing him into
form, what they got in return was less than nothing.
Then they buy Murali Vijay, a player that CSK/BCCI/India
Cements/MSD in spite of their unwavering commitment to, did not retain. Seems
obvious why, Vijay has a strike rate of 66 (in ODIs) and 98 (in T20Is). In the
previous season, he did enough to be benched instead of Saha but continued to
play.
Buying Vijay, like Taylor, is a gamble of Caesars Palace
proportions, even poor Valthaty would’ve fancied his chances.
And just when you think they can’t funk anymore, they pick
Saurabh Tiwary. And Dinesh Karthik for an arm and a leg and a breast.
Like Taylor, BossDK was part of DD, once upon a time. As was
Parnell, he just never played for them.
And didn’t Manoj Tiwary start with the Daredevils
too? Why didn’t they go after Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir? Retention
sucks.
When all of T20 is going orthodox legspin, they go Rahul
Sharma and Nadeem, and expect Duminy to be the offie. There’s Jayant Yadav, who
goes at 4.5 rpo but when did this bunch take a leap of faith with a rookie – oh
right, they did once, and that was also Murali Vijay’s Big IPL audition with a
hundred.
Two games, Duminy is yet to be dismissed – 52*(35) vs KKR,
67*(48) vs RCB, bowled 5 overs for 35.
Before this for SA, Duminy scored 39,
86*, 12, 5, 45* in the World T20, bowling in every match. Duminy bats for both South
Africa and Delhi at five.
Duminy, de Kock, Ross Taylor, Parnell, Neesham,
Nathan Couter Nile and Mohammad Shami are all part of their country’s T20I
squads.
Add to that, Vijay, Karthik, Unadkat, both the Tiwarys,
Rahul Sharma, Shukla, all who have played for India in some format, and you
have a team that would’ve done well in a spinless IPL.
Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor, with a name like that, would’ve
been better suited in the SLPL. Two pointless knocks, the odd drop, he seems as
distanced from the cricket (and entertainment) as Lalit Modi.
And by now DD should know better, no Kiwi ever did them any
good, not Ross Taylor nor Daniel Vettori.
But with a win after 7 defeats, stranger things could happen. Like a Kiwi winning it. When’s the DD vs RCB game in Bangalore?
13th May.
Squad
1 de Kock
2 Mayank Agarwal
3 Dinesh Karthik
4 Duminy
5 Ross Taylor/Neesham/Parnell
6 Manoj Tiwary
7 Kedar Jadhav
8. Nathan Couter Nile
9 Rahul Sharma / Nadeem
10 Unadkat
11 Shami
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| Bad Year: Ross Taylor played on but Andre Russell stayed on the bench |
