Delhi Capitals Profile
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Captain: Rishabh Pant
Coach: Ricky Ponting
Home Stadium: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
IPL Titles: 0
Owners: GMR Group, JSW Paints
Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) made the title round for the first time in the 2020 season, where they were defeated by the Mumbai Indians. Earlier, they stumbled upon the semi-finals for the first two seasons followed by the playoffs in 2012 and 2019. The franchise was originally owned by GMR Group entirely, which sold JSW Paints 50% in 2018.
History
The Capitals have not performed well in the IPL over the years, although they have started strong in the first two years. They also made the playoffs and finished in third place after hitting the table at the end of the group stage in 2012, but finished last in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
In December 2018, the franchise was renamed Delhi Capitals, and the name change seems to be bringing a change of luck - they made the playoffs in 2019, and in 2020, they reached the finals for the first time with a very young team.
In retrospect, some of the decisions they made regarding their team building may have hurt them years ago. In 2008, they did not took Virat Kohli - the idea that they had Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers in their lists. Then after three years with the team, which included a lot of runs and the right leadership for the 2010 season, Gambhir was released. Kohli, after all, has not won the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore yet, but he is the highest scorer in the tournament's history, while Gambhir led the Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles. The list of players Delhi has dropped over the years includes David Warner, Ab de Villiers and Andre Russell and Trent Boult.
Height
Delhi had a good time in 2008 and 2009, when they played in the semi-finals, and although they reached the finals in 2020, their best year was 2012, when they won 11 of 16 league games, despite being eliminated from the qualifiers. That year, Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen made more than 300 runs and Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav took 44 wickets between them. Under young Shreyas Iyer, with Ricky Ponting as coach, they appear to be turning the corner in 2020.
Downfall
Delhi hit the downfall from 2013 to 2018. Nothing they tried seemed to work, or it made sense. And while they were still at the bottom, they failed to climb above No. 6 on the points table.
Season with Position
2008 - 4th
Delhi got off to a good start, winning twice in the trot, and managed to win enough games - 7 of 14 - to finish fourth in the points table. But the Rajasthan Royals, whom Delhi had defeated in their first match, came out on top, and beat Delhi in the semi-finals on their way to the their first title.
2009 - 3rd
Delhi was a team in form in the group phase of the tournament, which was played in South Africa. They won 10 of their first 14 games, and led the way to the knockout stages, where they lost to the finalists, Deccan Charger in the semi-finals.
2010 - 5th
Delhi may have been hoping to build momentum for their first two seasons, but after winning their first 2 games, they won only 5 more, finishing tied on points with three teams behind the Mumbai Indians and the Deccan Chargers. Their net run rate was an issue which do not let them move on, while Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore passed.
2011 - 10th
When all went wrong for the first time. Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala have joined the IPL, making the tournament of 10 teams for the first time, with two new teams and Delhi forming three lower teams, with Delhi finishing last.
2012 - 3rd
The big-ticket stars - Sehwag, Pietersen, Jayawardene, Morkel, Warner - all appeared brilliant, with Delhi hitting like a well-anointed machine, finishing at the top of the table at the end of the league stage. But it would have been much closer to them: the loss from KKR and CSK had taken them out.
2013 - 9th
Delhi fell for their worst fall, with three wins and 13 losses. Their first victory came in their seventh match, against the Mumbai Indians, and after winning twice, there were six more consecutive defeats to end their campaign.
2014 - 8th
Another season, another sad performance. If they have won three and lost 13 last year, this time, the tournament returned to eight teams, winning two and losing 12, with two victories coming in their first five games, in the UAE. Delhi finished the tournament with a series of nine straight losses.
2015 - 7th
This time, Delhi was really working. Their performance was much better than in 2014, but five wins and eight defeats only allowed them to finish above the Kings XI Punjab, another team that had made a name for themselves by finishing at the bottom of the table.
2016 - 6th
Delhi's fortune saw a slight rise, in that after softening the ground, they moved one step up, with 7 wins and 7 defeats. Quinton de Kock scored 445 runs; Amit Mishra and another South African, Chris Morris, took 26 wickets together.
2017 - 6th
Delhi hit the field by finishing in sixth place, despite winning 6 and 8 defeats. However, with Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer all hitting more than 300 runs this season, there was reason to believe that the core of a strong team is coming back together.
2018 - 8th
Pant smashed 684 runs in 14 innings with 173 strike rate, Iyer scored 411 runs, and there were contributions from Vijay Shankar, Prithvi Shaw and Trent Boult, but Delhi still had lost 9 games and won only 5 only. That meant finishing in the lowest spot for them in the points table for the fourth time.
2019 - 3rd
Dhawan returned to his home team, and among them, he, Pant, Iyer and Shaw made about 1,500 runs. Kagiso Rabada was the leading bowler, with 25 wickets. This time, Delhi has won 9 games to finish at number 3 on the table. They beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator - their first win in a knockout ever - but were knocked out by CSK.
2020 - 2nd
Dhawan and Iyer came out on top with bat, getting 618 and 519 runs respectively. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje's pace attack took 52 wickets. Axar Patel and Marcus Stoinis put in some great efforts. The Capitals have won eight of 14 league games to reach the finals after passing through SRH, but remained one step behind the title.
Great players
Virender Sehwag
Sehwag, whose last match was in 2013, came from only 1st place in the top run-getters in Delhi in 2020, when Iyer surpassed his 2174 runs. He has held the side of the top four players in the first two seasons. They also made the playoffs in 2012, and Sehwag was also key there, becoming only the second man to hit T20s for five consecutive years during a particular season.
Amit Mishra
Mishra had played for Deccan Charger and Sunrisers Hyderabad as well, but it was Delhi where he achieved distinction, taking 100 wickets in 95 games, the most games anyone had ever played for any team.
Rishabh Pant
Pant, just five seasons in the IPL, is the third highest scorer in the team's history, with 2079 runs. Most important was his strikerate, which made him one of the most feared opponents in recent years.
Shreyas Iyer
Like Pant, Iyer hasn’t played for another IPL franchise yet, and his numbers tell you why Delhi hasn’t let him down: almost 2200 runs from six seasons. He is the man Delhi has turned to for strength and leadership, and has led them to the top three finishers in the past two seasons.
Kagiso Rabada
Rabada is another player who has ensured Delhi sticks to him, with 61 wickets in just three seasons. By 2020, he was the highest wicket-taker in the competition, with 30 strikes, but he was the best in Delhi in 2019 again, with 25 wickets in 12 games, and has maintained an economic prowess of 8.23 in three seasons.
Batting stats
Most Runs: Virender Sehwag: 2382 runs
Most Hundreds: Sikhikhar Dhawan, David Warner: 2
Most Fifties: Virender Sehwag: 17
Fastest Fifty: Chris Morris: 17 balls
Fastest Hundred: Virender Sehwag: 48 balls
Best Strike Rate: Ishant Sharma: 333.33
Most Sixes: Rishabh Pant: 103
Most Fours: Virender Sehwag: 292
Highest Individual Score: Rishabh Pant: 128
Bowling stats
Most Wickets: Amit Mishra: 104
Best Economy: Roelof van der Merwe: 6.22
Best Bowling Figures: Amit Mishra- 4-17
Best Bowling Average: Doug Bracewell: 10.67
Most Maidens: Irfan Pathan: 7
Most 4 Wickets Hall: Kagiso Rabada: 4
Fan base
Despite the disappointments of the season, Delhi Capitals still managed to establish loyal fans. So far, Delhi has managed to reach the Final once, but fans continue to support their team. Cricket was a popular sport in the nation's capital and the city had previously produced many players.
DC's official Instagram host has more than 2.2 million followers and the Twitter account has 1.7 million followers. On YouTube the official Delhi Capitals account has approx. 500K subscribers. The Delhi Capitals Facebook page is also very active with regular updates and uploads with 7.2 million followers.