Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara will lead a new-look Deccan Chargers team for the fourth edition of the IPL cricket tournament. With Cameron White as the vice-captain, this Chargers side presents an interesting blend of youth and experience.
Coach Darren Lehmann is confident that his boys will prove their mettle in the upcoming competition. At a promotional event in Hyderabad recently, he said that his players had worked hard and were physically and mentally ready for the big challenge.
Some crowd-pullers will be missing from the Chargers line-up this time. The most prominent among them being Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and V.V.S. Laxman.
Missing Gilly
Gilchrist had led the team with great aplomb through thick and thin — in its disastrous first season and the remarkable comeback triumph in the second year. His ability to inspire the Chargers had laid the foundation for the team's revival during that victorious campaign.
His leadership qualities and his fighting spirit will be missed but it is expected that now Sangakkara will take up the mantle in earnest and aim to fulfil the role that Gilly had played with such success.
The strong batting line-up, which includes names such as Jean-Paul Duminy, Cameron White, Shikhar Dhawan and Daniel Christian, should make Sangakkara's task a little easier. White, like Symonds, can destroy rival bowling attacks with his devastating hits.
Good pace attack
Added to that is a penetrative pace attack led by Dayle Steyn, Juan ‘Rusty' Theron, Manpreet Singh Gony and Ishant Sharma and a spin department which has the wily left-armer from Hyderabad — Pragyan Ojha — who had won the ‘Purple Cap' for being the highest wicket-taker in the earlier edition.
Other local players who will be keen to make a mark include D. Ravi Teja, N. Arjun Yadav, Ashish Reddy and Akash Bhandari.
