IPL Preview # 3 - Deccan Chargers

The turnaround team. They were filled with the best ball-tonkers in the first season, yet failed miserably and ended up in last place. Then, in IPL2, they realised the importance of Indian players, and under the captaincy (and general awesomeness) of Adam Gilchrist, they proceeded to win the title. Gilchrist led from the front, Laxman had a couple of decent innings, Rohit Sharma and RP Singh did well in something, Pragyan Ojha was one of the best spinners around, and Suman and Venugopal Rao were capable in their roles as batsmen and part-time spinners.

This year's squad -

Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Azhar Bilakhia, Andrew Symonds, Arjun Yadav, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, D Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Ashish Reddy, Herschelle Gibbs, Kemar Roach, VVS Laxman, Mohnish Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, T Suman, Venugopal Rao, Anirudh Singh, Rahul Sharma, Mitchell Marsh. 

Gilchrist and Gibbs seems like an amazing duo, but Gibbs, usually hit-and-miss, is more 'miss' than 'hit' these days. Gilchrist could emerge from a cryogenic state and still hit sixes at will. Symonds will be looking to prove he can still bat and bowl in a big stage after being chucked from the national side, and Dwayne Smith is always good for a quick 30, and he bowls too. I don't know what kind of role Chaminda Vaas has or why he's still here, and I'm not sure Laxman should be playing T20 either. It's a good all-round mix apart from that, with three good middle-order batsmen, who all bowl handy off-spin, in Rohit Sharma, Venugopal Rao and T Suman. Ravi Teja is another very good batsman who is yet to prove his talent in the IPL, while the bowling looks strong as it is, led by RP Singh and the crafty Pragyan Ojha.

Kemar Roach is the replacement for Fidel Edwards, and more than adequate, as he lacks the 'spray-around' quality that Edwards has but matches the pace. Ryan Harris has risen to international level since last year, and another great buy is Mitchell Marsh, younger brother of Shaun Marsh and no less talented. My preferred line-up is:

Adam Gilchrist (c) (wk)
D Ravi Teja
Rohit Sharma
Mitchell Marsh
Andrew Symonds
T Suman

Y Venugopal Rao
Azhar Bilakhia
Ryan Harris
RP Singh
Pragyan Ojha

I've gone with an extra batsman in the above line-up, as there really isn't another Indian pace bowler apart from RP Singh, and there's no need to play an extra spinner as most of the batsmen there bowl, too. Symonds will probably have to chip in with medium-pace rather than his off-spin. RP and Harris can shoulder the pace responsibilities well, or there's always Roach.

My Official-sounding prediction for DC this year: Semis. They've found a good balance, they have talented batsmen and variation (somewhat) in the bowling. And Gilchrist. So 3rd Place it is.

Kings XI Punjab up next. Until then, Go Chargers. Really, go.

7 comments:

The last time I saw RP he was bowling at about 70-75 miles per hour. If he contines to bowl like that he is going to get hammered on Indian tracks.

Is Absolem in the side as he was impressive in the ICL.

RP Singh's weapons are swing and yorkers, all he needs to do is keep it simple!

Haven't heard anything on Absolem - he was amazing in the ICL, and he plays for Hyderabad, but he hasn't been picked in any squads, which is strange as he would be a perfect fit for DC!

Swing is important for him but for any bowler a bit of drop in pace is going to be bad and that is same with RP too as he used to keep the batsmen honest with his sharpish pace but the drop in pace means that batsmen can hit him through the line.

I'm not too sure abt Mitch Marsh playing all the games, Smith was a success last time his hitting is really useful at no.5/6 Styris shud hv been retained wonder what happened there!

My preview of the Chargers team

http://greyblazerr.blogspot.com/2010/03/deccan-charges-preview.html

Middle order including Rohit, Marsh and Symonds looks very tasty. I do like the look of that Marsh chap, he looks very handy. Ridiculously talented cricketing family!

Smith was pretty handy, I agree, but with Styris gone, a reliable bat is needed. Marsh Jr Jr seems like a huge talent!

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