Delhi Daredevils’ loss against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday evening (April 28) was not very much different from the performance in the ongoing season.
After losing their season-opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Daredevils got their season on track with two thumping wins over Rising Pune Supergiant (97 runs) and Kings XI Punjab (51) runs but since then they have lost four matches on the trot which has condemned them to the bottom of the table.
Very much similar to their season, the capital-based outfit were off to a blistering start, racing to 41 for 0 in the first four overs before their downfall began. They could not hit a single boundary in the next seven overs. The only positive during the lean phase was that they did not lose any wickets. A flurry of boundaries then shifted the momentum briefly in their side but it was all done and dusted once their opening batsman Sanju Samson returned to the pavilion after scoring 60 off 38 balls. Even with the likes of Chris Morris and Corey Anderson available, the Daredevils could manage only 29 runs in the last 5 over as the Knight Riders restricted them to 160 for 6 in the 20 overs.
Delhi probably needed a set batsman during the death overs and Samson is aware of that. The highly-rated batsman, who had struck a century during his side’s win against Rising Pune Supergiant, spoke on the importance of batting till the end for his team.
“I’m still learning. I’m 22 years old, there’s a lot more career (cricket) ahead,” the youngster said at the post-match presser. “I need to finish games and need to play 20 overs. Whenever you play 20 overs, the team has best chance to win the match. Hope I will learn someday soon.”
The 160-run target was never going to be a challenging won for the in-form Knight Riders but the visitors had the chance to put Gautam Gambhir’s men under pressure. Kagiso Rabada dismissed the dangerous Sunil Narine in the very second over before they Uthappa top-edged a Rabada delivery in the sixth over but Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson made a meal of the easy catch as it landed safely between the Uthappa, who was batting on 9 off 9 balls at that time, blasted 59 off just 33 balls as the two-time champions chased down the total in the 17th over.
“We know catches win matches. It’s a busy crowd out here. It’s not easy to communicate while the ball goes up. It happens in a match but we need to move on as we have a match day after,” Samson said.
Samson further spoke on how his team can use the pressure situations in a better way instead of capitulating under them.
“We need pressure to perform in tough situations. Yes, there’s pressure but we can use it in a positive way and use the pressure to perform. We are youngsters but have been playing in IPL for four to five years. We have enough experience to make the team win,” he said.
“Most of our players are Under-25 and being with Rahul [Dravid] sir, youngsters like us learn a lot. He always backs us. That’s a great thing to have. We just want to perform and win matches for him,” he added.
Samson heaped praise on the Delhi Daredevils management before expressing his disappointment over not living up to their expectations.
“We can’t get a better management than this. We also get very emotional when we think of the match as we are supported so much. Despite getting such an opportunity we are not able to win. It’s a strange feeling that we are not able to make it count. But we cannot move forward with such a mindset. It’s about learning in every match,” he said.