Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 12 May ; Virtually out of contention with only eight points in their kitty from 11 matches, Delhi Capitals think tank still feels that their team has shown lot of character after suffering first five successive defeats in this seasons IPL
The Delhi Capitals are all set to take on Punjab Kings in their next match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday, and both teams have suffered defeats in their last matches respectively. Delhi lost to CSK in Chennai, while Punjab Kings went down to KKR at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
David Warner led Delhi Capitals hardly looked a well settled unit in this season and struggled to win. There seems to be no cohesion in batting and Warner has not ben able to lead from the front.
The Indian batters have been out of form it has been left to either skipper David Warner, keeper-batter Phil Salt or all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, to keep the side afloat. Manish Pandey, Ripal Patel and Aman Hakim Khan have failed to build up their cases for the national recognation by under performing
Though Warner, looked good during the first half of the season, he has struggled in the last five innings with single digit scores in three of them.
All rounder Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav have bowled while veteran pacers Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed manged to get wickets most times. The absence of speedster Anrich Nortje, was felt in the last match.
Refelecting on the performance of the team so far ,Assistant Coach Pravin Amre said, “We’ve shown a lot of character after our first five games. Defending a small total against Gujarat Titans at their home ground and the way we played against RCB gave us a lot of confidence. We know that we have the potential and we’ll look to execute a strategy which will work for us in the next game.”
When asked about the aspect the team needs to improve upon, Amre said, “We have lost a wicket in the first over in six matches this season. This has been a concern for us. And we are focussing on improving in that area. We have done well in the powerplay overs in a few games and we’ll look to replicate those performances.”
He also heaped praise on wicketkeeper-batter Philip Salt, “Salt has made an immense contribution this season. He plays a fearless brand of cricket. He has adapted to Indian wickets well. He is the only DC batter to receive a Player of the Match Award this season.”