Delhi Daredevils’ hopes of qualifying for this year’s playoffs took a severe blow after their latest defeat to Rising Pune Supergiants by 19 runs(D/L/S method). Delhi kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and could only post a paltry total of 121. Delhi are now sixth in the league table with six wins in twelve games.
Delhi Daredevils’ batsman Karun Nair, who was the highest scorer for Delhi with 41 runs, lamented the lack of partnerships and said losing wickets at regular intervals meant that they could not post a competitive total on the board.
“I think the pitch was a little two-paced but having said that we lost wickets at regular intervals. We didn’t get a partnership going. If there’s no partnership then it’s tough to get that momentum and get runs. I think that’s where we lost out, we lost wickets at wrong times,” Nair told the media in the post-match press conference.
After losing their in-form batsman Quinton de Kock cheaply,Delhi failed to recover.
“You can’t say that because all of them are quality batsmen. Like I said, we didn’t get any partnerships. Even though we lost early wickets we could have got partnerships in the middle. Even in the middle we lost wickets, that’s why we lost out. We were at least 25 to 30 runs short. But as I said, we lost wickets at the wrong time and at regular intervals. So that pegged us back a little bit,” he said.
Commenting on the changes Delhi’s team management made in the game,the right-hander said that the players stood firmly behind the team management in the decisions they take.
“Whatever call the team management has taken, if the call is selecting a particular team, then I think we as players should just back them and back the captain,” he said. “I think as players we are professionals. So we have to take it as it comes and each player has to be ready to play any game. Each player has his own role. The roles don’t change even if the teams change. So I think the team changing doesn’t matter to individual players,” he said, when queried if the changes affect the players.
Nair denied the fact that inexperience in the squad is responsible for the recent dip in their form. Delhi was in superb form during the early phase of the tournament but now that the pressure is increasing they are struggling to get the desired result.
“I don’t think (inexperience is the reason for defeats), because everyone have played in situations where it is a knockout game. It’s not like we’re going to be playing for the first time. Only once you play you will experience that and get better. If you don’t play this kind of games no one is going to get better.
“It’s quite simple, we have to win two out of two. There’s no room for error now and we have to just go out there and play positively,” Nair opined.