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Rahul Dravid and the resurgence of the Delhi Daredevils

Roar Guru
6th May, 2016
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Currently the most successful former Delhi Daredevils player has to be Tejashwi Yadav, a Ranji Trophy player who was in the team for four years even though he did not get a game.

Yadav is presently deputy chief minister of Bihar at the young age of 26, maybe the youngest ever to hold such a position.

Tejaswi’s success has not rubbed off on his former team, however. The Daredevils has always been an underachiever and despite always having awesome potential and terrific all-round strength have somehow not done well with only two semi-final spots in eight years.

However, with Rahul Dravid taking over as mentor there seems to be a resurgence on the cards.

Let us examine what was going wrong earlier and what has changed and looks promising now since ‘The Wall’ has taken over.

Upheavals and changes
The only constant in the team was the owner, GMR Group. Otherwise, the team saw many upheavals including sponsors, players and captains. Virender Sehwag was their first captain, followed by Gautam Gambhir then back to Sehwag and later Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen. The team too saw too many changes.

A settled captain and team would surely have helped.

Inability to retain star players
Glenn McGrath, AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Gambhir, Dirk Nannes, David Warner, Ashish Nehra, Aaron Finch, Morne Morkel, Glenn Maxwell, Pietersen, Andre Russell and Ross Taylor. All these are star players who were part of the Delhi team earlier but did not continue with the franchisee.

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Surely something is wrong if so many great players go on to play for other teams.

Sad case of McGrath
McGrath, an all-time great, had a three-year contract with the Daredevils. The first year in IPL he was their most economical bowler but sadly the next year he was on the bench. Nannes was preferred and McGrath sat out as Indian bowlers Nehra, Pradeep Sangwan and Aavishkar Salvi were chosen to complement Nannes.

A disappointed McGrath said that he would not return for the third season. Later the franchisee bought out his $350,000 contract. A legend surely deserved better?

Overall, the result was that a team of many superstars always fell woefully short out there in the middle.

However, since Dravid has taken over as team mentor, the team’s performance suddenly seems to have improved. They look like they will make an impression in this tournament and future IPLs too.

Here is why I think the transformation has taken place.

Belief in youth
Dravid recognised that IPL ultimately needs seven Indians in the playing 11 and only four foreign stars. He has therefore invested in Indian youth.

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Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant are five players who can serve the team well and can continue in the future too. Two others, Akhil Herwadkar and Mahipal Lomror, are also waiting to make a mark.

Combination of youth and experience
Though the team seems like an Indian Under-25 team, Dravid has taken care to ensure some experienced stars are included as well, such as JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, Chris Morris, Mohd Shami and Quentin de Kock.

Encouragement
Dravid encourages his players. Iyer did not do well but instead of blaming him in an interview, Dravid chose to focus on his two successful Ranji seasons. The players are told to enjoy themselves and play their natural game.

Zaheer as captain
Zaheer Khan as a captain is another captain cool. The arguably second best bowler in Indian history after Kapil Dev is enjoying the confidence shown in him and he too helps Dravid in nurturing and mentoring the youngsters.

Competent support staff
Zubin Bharucha as technical director has the role of research, planning, identification and talent development. Dravid has chosen him as the ex-Mumbai opener had done the same role well with Rajasthan Royals.

As coach, Paddy Upton is a good physical trainer with terrific credentials. He is also a leadership coach and focuses on mental aspects as well. The team also has competent batting coaches in Praveen Amre and an excellent bowling consultant in TA Shekhar.

Willingness to experiment
It is clear to all that no one is indispensable and team’s needs will be more important in regards to selection. For instance, Carlos Brathwaite was on the bench the very game after a match-winning performance as conditions suited spinners better. Iyer too was dropped after a couple of poor performances.

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Elevating Rishabh Pant to open the innings, including Sam Billings in the squad and most importantly picking the best young Indian talent are small but extremely significant steps taken by Dravid. He also took a daring step to rest Khan and best batsman De Kock. An occasional loss may happen, but key players will be fit in the business end of the tournament.

Finally, one important thought comes to mind. Will Dravid be around for a long time?

No idea. When asked how long his contract was, ‘The Wall’ just smiled. However, CEO Hemant Dua took the mic and said that it is known Dravid likes to play a long innings and they hoped he does so.

Delhi Daredevils fans will hope so too.

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