Devil may care Delhi look to proving point

New Delhi: Delhi have always had a strong squad in Indian Premier League and have reached the semi-finals thrice (2008, 2009, and 2012) - but on all occasions Delhi Daredevils have faltered in the end and failed to make it to the finals on all three occasions.

Their worst performance was when they finished last in 2011 winning just four of their 14 matches. The only other time they have failed to be in the top four was when they finished fifth in 2010. Led by a new commander in Mahela Jayawardene, Delhi Daredevils would look to right the wrongs and go the full distance in the tournament`s sixth edition. The biggest strength of this team is their top batting and bowling line-up. With batsmen like David Warner, Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene, the Daredevils are capable of taking on any bowling. With Morne Morkel, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav in their ranks, Delhi have one of the most fearsome pace battery. Delhi Daredevils will have to avoid complacency, they have always done well in the group stages but they have been awful in the knockouts. Kevin Pietersen will be a big miss and if another of the big three gets injured, Delhi will be in a fix. New recruits: Johan Botha, Jesse Ryder, Jeevan Mendis. Players to watch out for: Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Mahela Jayawardene, Unmukt Chand, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav. Squad: Ajit Agarkar, Andre Russell, Arisht Singhvi, Ashish Nehra, CM Gautam, David Warner, Gulam Bodi, Irfan Pathan, Jeevan Mendis, Jesse Ryder, Johan Botha, Kedar Jadhav, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Manpreet Juneja, Morne Morkel, Naman Ojha, Pawan Negi, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Royston Dias, Siddarth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Venugopal Rao, Virender Sehwag, Yogesh Nagar. IANS