Delhi Capitals (DC) will begin their campaign in the 2022 Indian Premier League against Mumbai Indians on Sunday. The Rishabh Pant-led side had reached the playoffs in the previous edition of the tournament and will be aiming to conquer the final frontier to end a long wait for a maiden IPL title. Like all other franchises, the DC will be entering the season with a revamped squad that includes a number of youngsters; one of them being Yash Dhull, who had led India to a famous U19 World Cup win last month.
Dhull is a product of the Delhi Capitals academy and also made his first-class debut for Delhi, following the U19 triumph. He had slammed a century on his maiden appearance for the state team, and also scored a double century during his third game for Delhi against Chattisgarh. Naturally a middle-order batter, Dhull had opened for Delhi throughout his three Ranji Trophy appearances.
DC head coach Ricky Ponting, who will be working with Dhull for the first time, heaped praise on the 19-year-old youngster and added that he is a “great inclusion” in the side.
“It's very exciting. It adds a lot of energy to the group. Let's not forget with Yash, he has been in the Delhi Capitals academy as well. It's just a really good example of what the Delhi Capitals Academy is being able to do to produce good young players, someone who is good enough to captain India to a successful U19 World Cup campaign. So, he has been a great inclusion to our squad,” Ponting said during a media interaction on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}“It's very exciting. It adds a lot of energy to the group. Let's not forget with Yash, he has been in the Delhi Capitals academy as well. It's just a really good example of what the Delhi Capitals Academy is being able to do to produce good young players, someone who is good enough to captain India to a successful U19 World Cup campaign. So, he has been a great inclusion to our squad,” Ponting said during a media interaction on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Further talking about the youngsters in the DC setup, Ponting pointed out that the side had promoted Prithvi Shaw in a similar way to Dhull.
“Vicky has also been a great inclusion to our squad. We've seen over the past 4-5 years, we've had great success bringing the youngsters in. We did the same thing with Prithvi a few years ago, and we saw how good a player he's turned out to be. There's a bit of the strategy that goes into the auction,” said Ponting.
“It's not just the young guys either. Someone like Sarfaraz is a young guy. Kuldeep Yadav is young as well.”
Not worried about lack of overseas players
As many as four overseas players will remain absent from DC's opening game of the season against Mumbai Indians. While the Australian pair of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh will remain on national duty for the limited-overs series against Pakistan, South Africa's Lungi Ngidi and Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman are currently in quarantine.
However, Ponting is not too concerned.
“No, not at all. We haven't spoken about it at all. We have been working exceptionally hard to make sure they're ready for the first challenge, which is tomorrow afternoon,” Ponting said.
“We would know in the next few days about some of our overseas players who are yet to arrive. Some overseas names are already here, Mustafizur and Ngidi are here, as well as Nortje. Rovman has been really impressive during the training sessions and the practice matches. I believe we've got a great depth in our squad; yes, we're missing some overseas players in the first couple of games, but that's no worry to us whatsoever. A lot of teams are in a similar boat to us, so we are just pushing forward making sure our players are well-prepared. I fully expect us to have a good start on Sunday.”