The Delhi Daredevils’ leg-spinner Amit Mishra has said that his team has prepared quite well for the upcoming season for Indian Premier League (IPL) and the results will be seen when the players will step on the field,
“When people say that we are a weak team, it motivates me personally and I want to prove them wrong. This time the team we’ve made, there has been a lot of thought put into it, there were several meetings and I’m sure, you’ll see the results.”
Delhi, despite being one of the strongest teams at the inception of IPL has failed to make it to the final of the tournament. Some of the decisions taken by the team have been baffling. History shows that this franchise has always released a number of players ahead of the auction day or sometimes spends the sky-rocketing amount on a player, who fails to repay the trust shown by the franchise. The reason why this team is also looked as one of the mismanaged team.
Ahead of the season, the franchise dealt two major blows as Quinton de Kock, the highest run-scorer for them in the last season and JP Duminy pulled out from the league due to respective issues. Mishra said that losing player is not good but also added that writing off team due to this, is not an ideal thing to do,
“JP Duminy has some personal problems and that’s why he pulled out. When something like that happens, it’s better the player stays with the family. It’s never nice to keep on playing, De Kock got injured and we can do very little about that. Whenever he’s fit, he’ll walk back in the team.
“It’s not ideal but that doesn’t mean you can write us off. The good thing is the guys have gelled well in the last few days and I feel we have a very good team this time. We are working hard. I’m confident we are going to do well,” Mishra said.
This season, Delhi Daredevils spin attack looks one of the strongest with likes of Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Murugan Ashwin and Mishra himself, who will spearhead the spin line-up. Mishra too said that the spin department is the strength of the team and will have a crucial role in the game, especially in the middle overs,
“We play a crucial role in the middle overs. It’s important to stop the runs and then take wickets as well. I’ve always tried to take wickets in the middle overs.You need to have quality. Like batsmen bring in new shots, the spinners have been trying new balls. You need to know when to bring in the variations, when to bowl slow or when to push it a bit. If you have quality, you can survive on any wicket.”
The Zaheer Khan-led squad will open its IPL campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on April 8