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One final, three playoffs and two semifinals. Delhi Capitals (DC) are one of the two franchises who have played since the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) and are yet to win the title. The wait will continue once again as DC’s playoffs chances are slim to none with their seventh loss of the tournament from 11 games. Following a deplorable loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), suffering their fifth home defeat of the season, DC’s Director of Cricket, Venugopal Rao said that another disappointing season hurts. Rao had played three seasons for the team when it wasn’t DC, but Delhi Daredevils. As a Director of Cricket, he is trying to figure out how to use the resources better.
“I think today also, when we got a good start, we couldn’t capitalise. In this kind of tournament, you can’t miss those patches. Eighteen years, obviously, it hurts. Seriously, when you look back, when I played during my days, I always wanted to win from the Daredevils’ time to now. It’s a learning process for me. Coming into the administration part, I’m still learning a lot of things,” said Rao.
Rao took over the position last year. In the previous edition, DC had a terrific start but after a string of defeats, they couldn’t make it to playoffs. This season, they have had a couple of games where they should’ve won. The one-run defeat to Gujarat Titans (GT) and losing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) despite posting 264/2.
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DC failed in all three departments
On May 8, DC did not score a single boundary in six overs after losing five wickets. They managed to post a non-threatening target of 143 which wasn’t enough to pose a challenge against KKR who are on the comeback route. However, Rao felt that DC were far away from being up to the mark in all departments of the game.
“I think three departments failed today. After getting a good start, after seven or eight overs, we were in a good position, one wicket or something down. Then later on, in the next six to seven overs, we couldn’t get a boundary. Not only batting, but also in bowling or fielding. I think the whole tournament, we couldn’t win those small, small areas,” Rao said.
Axar, Kuldeep’s lack of form hurst DC
DC have two two-time T20 World Cup-winners in their squad. Skipper Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have been far from impressive. Axar has scored just 44 runs in the season at an average of 6.28. The poor run continued against KKR as he managed to score 11 runs from 22 deliveries. With the ball, he was impressive conceding 27 runs from quota of four overs, including the wicket of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. But, Kuldeep seemed to have lost his way, going for 41 runs in three overs. Rao rues the two senior players’ form dipping in the season.
“With players like him [Kuldeep] and Axar, if both are in good form together, it strengthens the bowling group a lot,” he said.
“We always want a captain, a person like him, who has been in the two World Cup-winning squads, coming into this tournament [in form]. Somewhere, I think, he lost his form and that hurt us.
“When you look back at today’s opposition, some of the seniors couldn’t perform. So, we need to face the music,” the 44-year-old added.
DC will now go up against PBKS on May 11 at Dharamsala's HPCA Stadium. PBKS have lost three consecutive games. Their bowling has not been in form.
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