Just a week after his unbelievable exploits in World T20 final made him the toast of the cricketing world, Carlos Brathwaite will be back at the Eden Gardens all guns blazing for Delhi Daredvils when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPl cricket match here on Sunday.
Getting into the winning mode will be key as Daredevils will look to get their combination right, while KKR with their nucleus intact will be keen to get into the momentum in their bid for a record third IPl silverware in five years.
For a team that has always boasted of a talent-filled roster only to make a mess of things in the end, Daredevils look like a transformed unit this time, atleast on paper, having spend judiciously on young talents.
They did cop some flak having bought Brathwaite at Rs 4.2 crore at the IPl auctions when he was a relative non-entity but the team management is now being hailed for their foresight after his World T20 exploits.
Zaheer Khan may not be what he used to be in his prime but at 37, as the captain of a young side, his inputs could prove to be invaluable in the long run.
Dravid will have three of his former U-19 wards, Rishabh Pant, Mahipal lomror and Khaleel Ahmed, with whom he took India to the U-19 World Cup final in Bangladesh earlier this year as he will look to replicate his success and prove his coaching acumen once again. Of the three, only Pant has a realistic chance of figuring in the playing XI.
"We wanted young, fearless cricketers, who we could work on. We have got Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, and it's an advantage that they have all worked with Rahul Dravid, who knows the Indian boys very well. We are looking forward to changing the fortunes of Delhi with the help of the new coaching staff and some talented youngsters," TA Sekar, director of team owner GMR Sports has said.
Iyer, who was instrumental in Mumbai's Ranji triumph this season scoring 1321 runs at 73.38, will be one to watch out for as he would strive hard to get a national reckoning with a good performance in the IPl. For the record, Iyer had a fantastic debut season in IPl last year when he was one of the top scorers in the league.
In impressive Samson, JP Duminy and inform wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock to add to Brathwaite's prowess batting looks their strong point, even as their bowling maybe their weak link.
In Zaheer, who has been named the skipper and remains to be seen whether he's able to survive the grind, along with Mohammed Shami who's coming from a long injury layoff.
Squad
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (c), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Manan Sharma, Ankit Rajput, Rajagopal Sathish, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, John Hastings, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Sheldon Jackson, Chris lynn, Morne Morkel, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan.
Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan (c), Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Pawan Suyal, Jayant Yadav, Chris Morris, Sam Billings, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, Mahipal lomor, Chama Milind, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Khaleel Ahmed, Akhil Herwadkar, Pratyush Singh.