It's like old Delhi playing new Delhi, says Shipperd

Kiwi Daniel Vettori is the skipper of RCB while Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers are an integral part of their new side. “It’s like old Delhi playing new Delhi, isn’t it?” remarked Daredevils’ coach Greg Shipperd here on Monday.

“Half the old Delhi side is in their team and they will be coming to familiar circumstances and familiar faces. It will be good to see them but hopefully we will be able to develop some momentum and secure some back to back wins. I think that’s very important for us,” he stated.

Shipperd said he would have loved all three of them in his side but their prices shot up too high for Delhi to match in the auction. “We did our best in the auction to retain those players,” he pointed out. “At the end of the day bidding and dollars were out of our hands. We got to a point and after that we couldn’t continue with all of those players. That said they have found new nice home and hopefully they are settling in there. We have embraced our people and it should be a good match tomorrow. Obviously (Chris) Gayle has been in terrific form but they also have other world-class players in their side,” he offered.

Gayle had struck a 55-ball century against his former team Kolkata Knight Riders the other night and Shipperd hoped that the ‘nasty trend’ (players doing well against their previous sides) would be broken.

Shipperd felt that on a wicket, which offered good bounce and pace against Kings XI Punjab, picking the right combination was the key. “You pick different players on different wickets. The team we picked the other night was perfect for those conditions. If you put right players on a good wicket they play very good cricket and that was an example of putting talented cricketers on a first-class wicket, and you get an excellent result.”