Delhi Capitals and the cons of having Nortje, Ishant as death bowlers

Things are not going to end well if you have Anrich Nortje and Ishant Sharma as your death bowlers in this age of Indian Premier League.

It comes as no surprise that Delhi Capitals have the worst economy rate (14.6) and balls/boundary (2.9) in the death overs (16-20) in this year’s IPL. If we consider only the last three overs, those numbers go up to 16 and 2.5, respectively.

The Capitals received a proper whacking at the hands of Tim David and Romario Shepherd on April 7 (Sunday) at the Wankhede Stadium. DC leaked 96 runs in the last five overs, the joint second-most in IPL history.

12, 17, 16, 19, and 32 - this is what DC conceded in each of the death overs against Mumbai Indians, who came into this match having lost all three encounters. Wankhede has always been a nightmare for bowlers but the DC bowling unit made it look even worse.

After Mumbai were asked to bat first, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got them off to a flying start, adding 75 runs in the powerplay. Hardik Pandya (39 off 33), however, struggled to score at a decent pace and that allowed Delhi to make some sort of a comeback in the middle overs.

Mumbai could only score at seven runs per over in the middle overs and were 138/4 at the end of 15 overs. It looked like they would end up somewhere around 190-200 but that’s when David and Shepherd went berserk at the end.

When Ishant finished the 15th over, David was on 13 off 11. The right-handed dasher from Australia eventually ended with 45 off 21, hitting 32 runs off his last 10 deliveries. Shepherd faced only 10 deliveries but still hit 39 runs, with 32 of those coming in the final over of Nortje.

That’s right, the big man from West Indies smacked Nortje for four maximums and two fours in the 20th over. Overall, the Capitals conceded five fours and nine sixes in the last five overs - 14 in total, by far the most this season.

96 vs Mumbai, 77 vs Kolkata, 58 vs Delhi, 77 vs Rajasthan and 47 vs Punjab - Delhi’s death-over bowling has been beyond terrible. They have given 355 runs in this phase in IPL 2024, 117 more than the second worst on the list. 

Delhi have also been hit for 27 sixes in the death overs, almost double of what the second team on the list have conceded - Sunrisers Hyderabad (14).

Nortje finished with figures of 2/65, with 48 of those coming in his final two overs. But this is not the first time the tearaway quick from South Africa has received such a beating in this IPL. His overall economy in IPL 2024 reads 13.43, which goes up to 18.7 at the death.

Amongst bowlers who have bowled at least four overs at the death in IPL 2024, Nortje has the worst economy rate. The right-armer has been hit for a boundary every 1.9 balls.

Not once has he given less than 20 in his fourth over. What Shepherd did to him today, Rinku Singh did the same, hitting him for 25 runs in his final over. Nortje also got hit for 25 runs when he came face to face against Riyan Parag and 20 against MS Dhoni.

Also read - How Anrich Nortje’s DC stint has gone from phenomenal to forgettable

Nortje has been so bad that he has made Ishant look like a better death bowler, who himself has gone at 13.5 in this phase. The Capitals don’t have a single pacer in their team with an economy of less than 11.5 in the final phase of the innings.

Jhye Richardson made his debut today but was done by the end of the 16th over. The Australian seamer anyway is not a death bowler, so you can’t really blame Rishabh Pant for using Nortje and Ishant at the end.

Now, it’s not like Delhi have options waiting on the bench. Richardson and Nortje are the only two overseas seamers in their set-up. Mukesh Kumar is injured but even he isn’t reliable. You would blame the management for this mistake. 

They ended the Auction with almost 10 crore in the purse and didn’t invest in quality overseas seamers. Even when Lungi Ngidi and Harry Brook were ruled out, they went ahead and got a batter - Jake Fraser-McGurk. They still have one overseas spot left, but it’s too late now. 

The mistakes were made in the Auction, and unsurprisingly, Delhi are now paying for it.