Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Delhi Capitals have been one of the founders of the IPL, but still find themselves without a title to their name. Formerly known as the Delhi Daredevils, the team has always had big names in their ranks but the performances have never been up to the standards desired by the fans. The only time DC reached the final was 2020, where they fell to Mumbai Indians.
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But this season, there was a lot of renewed hope around the franchise as some big and bold calls were made. Their captain for the past few years and the face of the franchise. Rishabh Pant was sent into the auction pool and let go. They made Axar Patel the captain and retained some of their trusted players in Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, among others. In the auction, they made some smart business by buying Mitchell Starc, KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis and some uncapped stars in the form of Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam.
The squad looked set for a title push, and the start was brilliant. Winning four our of four games, Delhi looked like the side to beat this campaign with a charged up Rahul leading the way with the bat. Their qualification to the playoffs seemed like a formality at one point. Even in their first loss to MI, there were some good moments of cricket from the team and everyone had them in their first four picks.
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But then, something that DC fans feared started to happen. The Capitals have lost 3 out of their last 5 matches and were lucky to get a point against SRH as rain intervened after they put on 133 in their 20 overs.
When they won 4 games in a row, I thought they were going to be hard to beat. They looked like a team to be in the top 4 or even the top 2 for me. I have been surprised how the wheels have started to fall off,” said a surprised Shane Watson to the broadcasters after the game on Monday was halted by rain.
So, what’s going on at DC?
DC’s not-so-great history
When you look at the history of Delhi in the IPL, it is filled with seasons that they looked sure to make it to the play-offs and then fell away. While they made it to the semi-finals in the first two campaigns of the IPL, one of their best ones was in 2012 where they finished at the top of the points table.
This was when the play-offs system was in place and DC ended up losing the qualifier 1 and eliminator 2 to be knocked out of the competition.
Now, when you look at the seasons where they seemed to be contenders to make the play-offs, 2010 and 2016 come to our minds. In IPL 2010, DC won 6 out of their first 9 games and appeared to be in the race for the playoffs. However, they collapsed in the final five matches, losing 4 of them and ended up in the fifth spot.
In 2016, DC won 5 out of their first 7 seven games and appeared to be the team to beat in the tournament. However, the next seven yielded just two wins and Dehi ended in the 6th spot. So historically, DC have shown the trend to be sucked into a blackhole in the second half of their campaigns and end up missing on reaching the play-offs.
However, this season, the problems seem to be more self-inflicted.
Why no replacement for Harry Brook?
When Harry Brook pulled out of the IPL 2025 campaign, everyone expected DC to go out and get a signing in. Brook pulled out before the season started and that was in March. Now, we are in May and Delhi are yet to make a signing.
There were many options specifically they could have gone for. Dewald Brevis is one such option as it meant that it would have given them an option in the middle-order. Now, KL Rahul has done well in the spot, meaning they could have used it on another opener even. Lhuan-Dre Pretorious, who set the SA20 stage on fire, could have been brought in to solve the opener issues at the franchise.
Which brings us to our final point.
Too many experiments at the top
Delhi have used 6 different opening pairs this season. While Faf du Plessis’ injury in the early part of the season was a reason for this, the number is just too much for a team chasing to be in the top four. On Monday, DC used another one with Du Plessis and Karun Nair opening. And it failed, off the very first ball.
Watson put it perfectly when he said that the Karun promotion that it felt random.
“They just randomly changed the opening combination. That was not needed. I was so surprised that I almost fell off the chair when Karun walked out to bat with Du Plessis. That was not needed at all,” said Watson.
Do DC now need a miracle?
Well, yes and no. DC face PBKS away from home, GT at the Arun Jaitley stadium and then MI in Mumbai. Three teams and three straight rivals in the play-offs race. For them, now it is all about going back to the basics. Watson said that cricket is a game of confidence and that seems to be lacking for DC at the moment.
“Cricket is all about confidence and momentum as well, and Delhi Capitals just haven’t been playing great cricket over the last 3 or 4 games, so to think that then, and a batting performance like they’ve had tonight, to think that then that you’re gonna have to like, turn up in a very different way in those three next games, those 3 next teams they’re playing against,” said Watson.
However, Delhi have the right players in them to get out of the slump but the road does seem tough.
“It’s going to be a miracle in my eyes to be able to turn things around so quickly. Look, let’s hope for the Delhi Capitals because of the calibre of players. They’ve got the calibre of team they’ve got that they can, but with what we’ve seen over the last 4 or 5 games, it’s gonna be a hard road home for them to be able to turn things around,” said Watson.
DC needs some redemption quickly and time is running out. That familiar blackhole slowly seems to be closing in on them and sucking them in before the play-offs
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
