'Just watch out for Delhi Capitals' : DC Team Analyst's exclusive interview

With just a day left for India's cricketing festival to unfold, the fanatics are flying high for the bonanza. The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a special one as it will see two new teams add value to the competitive spirit and glitterati of the tournament.

The last season of IPL saw some fierce contest between the top sides, with Delhi Capitals (DC) topping the charts in the league stages, bagging 20 points from 14 games. However, two humdingers in the playoffs and the Delhi-based franchise were left with no options but to pack their bags. 

The JSW-GMR owned franchise made a hattrick of appearances in the playoffs last season after not being able to finish in the top-four for seven long years. The success has a lot to do with how well the team has gelled in the last three years, and the coaching staff led by Ricky Ponting deserves a lot of due credit. 

Delhi Capitals have pocketed 20 players in the 2022 IPL mega-auction. Apart from getting star-studded cricketers such as David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shardul Thakur, and Mustafizur Rahmanhey also have a good blend of young blood in Sarfaraz Khan, Chetan Sakariya, Yash Dhull, and Vicky Ostwal, etc.

A lot of hard work goes unrecognised behind these strategies and plannings for a team's success. Team Analysts play a massive role in these operations. 

That said, Sriram Somayajula, DC's Team Analyst, spoke to us at OneCricket in an exclusive chat - regarding the role of an analyst, the auction dynamics, Ponting's coaching replica, and many more unanswered queries, 

Good morning sir. A lot of cricket following mass are unaware of the role of a performance analyst/team analyst. Could you brief us about its role and responsibilities?

See, the role of an analyst is about finding information - about the opposition or about your team, where the opposition would be looking to bowl to you, what are your counter plans to that. How the opposition will react to your plans, so on and so forth. 

Basically, it's about asking questions to yourself - about your own players and your opposition. Ahh, there is so much of a thought process that goes behind game planning.

As an analyst, you are always wanting information. Information, sometimes means you think, predict, sometimes you think this could be the reality. So let's go with certain trends, or patterns, which has happened in the recent past or based on some evidence or some historical data. 

To put it very simple, I think it's about finding some information and passing it on to the coaches.

How did you switch to performance analyst from provincial level cricket?

We all played cricket at some stages, isn't it? It could be club levels, it could be street cricket, it could be anything. Yes, not everybody is termed as a cricketer because it takes so much to say one is a cricketer. You represent cricket at some stages before you turn your parallel careers. But yeah, I was lucky to be getting very early in my career. I got a parallel career in the sport itself, which I loved, which I still love the most. I'm so lucky to be doing what I do today.

Team analysts also have an indispensable role in the auction dynamics. So how do you prepare for the team ahead of the auction?

Look, everybody wants the best side in the competition. Everybody wants to have their side of planning, and they have their own way to plan things as well. Some look at numbers, some look at the potential, some look at what they have seen, from their naked eye. 

Say, for example, Someone who was exceptional in scoring X number of runs in one season. I suppose to what they have done in the past. So you bring both together and the numbers will talk about it, numbers will justify why we should pick them. That is how your value is decided on that person. Then we put a price tag to it and say, okay we have a budget and within the budget limitations that we have we will plan for him.

Many cricket pundits regarded a few of the buys of DC in the IPL auction as 'steals'. So which were the most satisfying buys according to you or the management?

Look, apart from the four retentions, we had 20 buys in the auction. Every single buy was satisfying. There is no one player you can leave out and say this is the most satisfying buy for me. Somebody came at an unimaginable price. Somebody came at an exorbitant price. That was auction dynamics. That was not in anybody's hands at the end of the day, on the table as well. 

If you want a particular player, you want him, come what may, provided you have the purse in your hand. So to put it short, every single buy we have had for Delhi Capitals this season - that started right from the first buy till the last purchase on the second day was very satisfying.

But getting a few players at a very less price. Was this imaginable a day ahead of the auction?

It was unimaginable. You can never imagine Warner would come at that price. At the same time, like a KS Bharath, we also imagined he would go for a certain price and got him at a good price. It could be an unimaginable price for us and a reasonable price for us. We don't know that unless the season unfolds, and they start doing well. Yeah, as far as the auction was concerned, all the 20 buys were very good for us.

It must be a very gritty and reluctant decision to let go of Kagiso Rabada ahead of the IPL mega-auction. What was the idea behind this?

Everybody knows the retention was four, and we all would love to have the Indian core at the end of the retention period. So we certainly wanted to have the Indian core as far as DC was concerned, and that was one of the main strategies. 

And out of the overseas cricketers we all had, nobody is indispensable at the end of the day, and when it comes to auction, and even for the best players sometimes, the hard decisions are taken. I'm not saying that just for Kagiso Rabada. It happened with Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis. All were performers for DC.

Stoinis, two years before that in the IPL, hasn't done anything great, so as Hetmyer. So, as with Hetmyer. And today, they are more than a million-dollar price-tags. I am not saying they are not good players. But, the team gelled so well under this coaching group and that the team was so good that we were more like an unbreakable unit in the last three years. 

Even the bench strength you talk about, somebody who has not got many games to play, like you can imagine Steve Smith was a part of us, and he was seen more towards the end of the tournament. It's not just about Rabada we talk about. It is, in general, all those players who are part of our Indian core as well like Rahane, Mishra, etc. I mean it took some time to build that side. It's not easy when you leave players. But when you are left with so many options out of the lot, I think the decision was made with options that were left out. So we chose to go with Anrich Nortje.

The duo of Ponting and Iyer have fared well for Delhi Capitals in the past few years. What are your viewpoints on 'Ricky Ponting the coach'?

He is the best coach I've ever worked with in my career so far - without any doubts, any second thoughts. He is a legend of the game as we know. Every session is knowledgeable with him. There are some insightful discussions every season. Whenever you are with him, around him, there is some sort of learning all the time. I just idolise him all the time, and I feel that there is something to learn in every conversation. 

When you go back, do work elsewhere, you would want to add value to those teams, possibly by sharing a thought or two with those coaches of what Ricky has shared, in terms of the knowledge. It's a massive learning and has empowered so many lives, so many people, thought-process, etc.

Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, even Pradeep Sangwan way back in 2008, are a few U-19 targets of Delhi from the past. Adding Yash Dhull and Vicky Ostwal to the list, what are the plans behind bidding for the U-19 stars?

Uhmm, every team would want to do so. Like, CSK (Chennai Super Kings) has gone for the U-19 fast bowler, Hangargekar. If you look, every team has a youngster whom they would like to groom. 

Since the very first day, Delhi Capitals' mantra was to have mixes of senior players and youngsters to groom for the future. I think it has worked out in the past. It is a very conscious decision by the management and the ownership group, and I believe it will pay off in the future. 

Someone like Vicky Ostwal, who has just won the U-19 World Cup, is oozing with confidence. The way he is batting, he can add value to the team. So there is no way you will come and say, we have invested in a youngster and won't be using his services for one-two years. Every cricketer has the potential and it will be looked on rightly by the coaches. We have some excellent coaching staff who will work with the players so closely, and it can only get better.

Coming back to your role of Team Analyst, there might be instances where you backed some points with data, and it did work for the team. Could you illustrate any such examples?

It's not just me, like I said, there are legends of the game sitting in the dugout making those decisions. I cannot say this is my decision, this is what I have done. We all sit together, and that's the beauty of working with Ricky Ponting. The way he embraces everyone into decision-making shows the quality of the leader he is off the field. 

And on the field, we have had some brilliant leaders. Like you have said rightly, Shreyas Iyer was one of the main stay for us in terms of leading the side in the last few years. Of course, with Rishab we saw, how well he could lead the side last year when Shreyas wasn’t there. Pant's records show how good he is as a leader now and he will only get better from here. I think the leaders are being groomed by leaders like Ricky and co. You can only imagine the team going a long way. I cannot single out one instance as I said to you before. It's a mix of everyone's efforts in the end.

Meeting Ricky Ponting and co. for the first time. Were there any goosebump moments?

Yes, it was with Ponting. Like I told you, I used to idolise him a lot. The way he bats, the way he actually leads the side, the way he dictates on the field. So for me, those were the things that came to my memory when I first saw him in this team together. And when I first heard that he is going to be the coach, that was totally out of my mind and I said, this is the best thing that can happen to me and my career.

Three uncapped players to watch out for in this IPL, or maybe for the future?

Definitely, I'll have Yash Dhull as one of the options. Also, you cannot single out anyone. Given the recency that he has been scoring so well and has been doing exceptionally well for India in the U-19 World Cup, U-19 Asia Cup as well. I'm sure he is a great talent to watch out for in Delhi Capitals. 

There are other talents across IPL, there are a lot of other names that I would be excited to talk about, but I'll restrict to DC for now.

Sarfaraz again, the way he is batting in the domestic and his form is significant. So I think he is another guy we need to watch out for. 

And someone, who has done really well in the domestic competition this year, is Lalit Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, etc. these bunch of youngsters are going to spring a few surprises surely. 

As heard, the Capitals are likely to miss a few overseas cricketers in the initial few matches. How is the management preparing to cover up this loss?

We really don't know who is missing out and who is not. But if there is a national commitment, the players won't be there. We had these things in mind, before going into the auction, even now. We have a very balanced side with an Indian core and I don't think we will miss out greatly. I'm sure, the Indian guys will look after to fill the roles rightly.

An advice you would like to give to an aspiring performance analyst?

I had spoken about this a lot in the past. Passion, Commitment, Perseverance. 

Without passion, you cannot get into this work. Not for the sake of meeting your favourite players, wearing the jerseys, and going and sitting with your favourite team. This game has taught so many things for us in our lives. 

The second thing is Commitment. You might get less paid, might be treated differently, it doesn't matter. You are committed to this path because you love this job. You are so passionate about this profession. You might have ups and downs, people talking good, bad about you. One person might talk very high about you, the other person, in the very next minute, will try to put you down. It is about people, how you manage yourself and stay committed to this path because you like this.

The next thing is Perseverance. Perseverance in the journey of an athlete. There will be a lot of deserving athletes who might not get chances to go and represent the country or whatever they are aspiring for. That 'never give up' attitude. That is very important. Perseverance is essential when it comes to this field as well. 

Ten years back or 16 years back, when I started in this industry, it wasn't a very prominent role. There were questions like why should we do all these? Why should we spend money? If I had decided then that I would not do this, I would not be doing what I am doing today.

I think passion, commitment, and perseverance are the three most important things. 

The climax is all yours…

Just watch out for Delhi Capitals. I keep hearing from people say that we haven't still won a competition. Just watch out this year. It will be definitely bigger and better.