Follow UsAfter the completion of their sixth match, a victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a super over, Delhi Capitals had five wins from their first six, were stationed at the top of the table, and looked primed for a top-two finish.
But things can turn around quickly — for the worse — in a tournament like IPL, and that’s precisely what’s happened to DC, who have now won just one of their last four matches and suddenly find themselves in a dogfight for the top four, having completely dominated the first half of the season.
Time will tell if DC actually makes it to the playoffs, but if they don’t, the Capitals will look back on the two home games they have lost to the Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
16 days ago, when DC came up against MI at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, they were cruising chasing 206, stationed at 135/2 with Karun Nair batting like an unstoppable force of nature. They looked destined to make it five wins in five as victory seemed all but sealed when Nair was out there in the middle with KL Rahul. In the end, DC ended up not making it.
They fell considerably short in the end, losing by 14 runs following a horror phase of play in which they suffered three consecutive run-outs.
Just two weeks later, here we are. History has repeated itself eerily. A target of 205 and DC were absolutely cruising at one point, having the game in the bag at 136/3.
What happens after that? DC collapsed to 190/9 and ended up losing the contest by 14 runs.
At the post-match presentation, skipper Axar Patel reckoned that his side conceded 15-20 runs extra with the ball in the powerplay, and he’s not wrong; the 25-run second over from Dushmantha Chameera did make a significant difference in the end.
However, as sloppy as DC were in the powerplay, the truth is that they should have finished off the game, having found themselves in the position they did. And yet another fluffed chase indicates clear holes in this batting line-up.
It is true that DC’s top-order has been pretty disappointing throughout the season but in each of these two bottled chases, their middle-order has to bear the blame as well. For the team was unable to get over the line even after a foundation had been built, and a path to victory had been carved out.
Set batters have been guilty of not seeing the team over the line, while finishers, barring Vipraj Nigam, have not taken the team over the line. And one thing that’s been common to both chases is the shot selection of skipper Axar Patel, who at a crucial juncture has thrown his wicket away rather cheaply, not willing to take it remotely deep despite there being a long way to go.
So, DC now suddenly just have two points more than Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), having played the same number of games, and will be out of the top four if Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) tomorrow.
The IPL is a fickle tournament indeed, and DC are learning it the hard way.