There are many ways to lose a game but teams this season in the Indian Premier League are making people believe that the easiest among them is to lose from winning positions. It was yet another case of that when Rajasthan Royals, who required 47 runs from 36 balls with five wickets in hand and a pair of one settled and experienced batsman Robin Uthappa and eternal match-winner Rahul Tewatia at the crease, failed to convert.
Delhi Capitals, after winning the crucial encounter by 13 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium have now regained the top spot in the points table replacing Mumbai Indians.
The equation had once come down to 39 from 30 balls. No doubt that the Delhi bowlers bowled really well at the death and credit must be given to them, however, one cannot simply ignore as to how from a surely winning position, the Rajasthan team royally threw away the chase.
Shikhar Dhawan was the stand-in captain for injured Shreyas Iyer, who went out of the ground after an unfortunate shoulder injury. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Dhawan cleared the air that the injury to Iyer hasn’t been much serious as of then and only reports would tell of its intensity once they are declared tomorrow.
“He's (Iyer) in pain but his shoulder is moving. We'll get the proper report tomorrow,” Dhawan said. Talking about the game, the Delhi born said that it was evenly poised at one stage and rather Delhi were thrown behind in some situations. Crediting the team for fighting back he said, “One moment it was quiet even and to pick it back from there was a team effort.”
Adding to it, Dhawan also felt that it ‘was important’ that the boys ‘stayed positive as a team.’
“[We] Knew their batting isn't deep, knew if we got their top-order we can get them,” he further added.
Praising the bowlers the 35-year-old said, “Every time we want them to deliver they're delivering.” He then went on to call the debutante pacer Tushar Deshpande a courageous bowler who could be a great asset in the future for the team. “Courage he showed, line and length he bowled was amazing,” he said. “Have to keep the momentum. Long tournament and will keep the process going,” concluded Dhawan.
Steve Smith, the losing captain wasn’t much impressed with the efforts of his batsmen which included himself. Disappointed with the loss he said that the wicket slowed a bit as the game progressed but that can’t be an excuse.
“We got off to a good start with Jos [Buttler] and [Ben] Stokesy, then we lost a couple of wickets and got another partnership between Stokesy and Sanju [Samson], then again lost wickets in clumps,” the 33-year-old explained how his team lost the momentum. He further added, “On slow wickets, it is hard to make up too many runs at the backend.”
Be it, Stokes, Samson, or Uthappa, every one of them got a start but were unfortunately not able to continue and play till the end to finish the game for the team. Pointing that out, Smith said, “We needed to take it a bit deeper from some of our batters and we were not able to do that. Boys were getting in and getting out, not going on to make 50 or 60.”
“We thought we bowled well at the backend and restricted them to 160-odd, that was probably around par on this wicket,” the skipper said praising his bowlers.
The three of the fastest bowlers in the tournament, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, and Anrich Nortje were part of this game and showed with their skill as to how difficult it is to keep bowling at more than 145KMPH and then still be able to use the slower ball without much effort.
Complimenting the quicks, Smith said, “It has been the trend in the tournament, the boys that have the airspeed have had the most success, Jofra has been great for us and same with Nortje and Rabada for Delhi.”
“They changed things around tonight by bowling with pace, taking pace off and varying it nicely, we weren't able to deal with that,” Smith said about the Delhi pacers and the same time pointed out the difference between the two sides.
With just three wins from eight games, the Royals are languishing at the second last position in the points table. Things don’t look good for them and the captain understands it. Throwing light on the future plans Smith said, “We are not in the greatest position at the moment, so need to move on from this and hopefully come back with a big game in three days' time.”
It’s no guessing the fact that as is the audience, experts would now be frustrated with the way teams have gone on to lose games from winning positions in this edition of the IPL. Today though, apart from that frustration, there was genuine approval among the experts that Delhi has been the best bowling attack so far in the tournament and that this game was a clear stamp of authority on that statement.
Akaash Chopra, the cricketer turned analyst and commentator praised the Delhi Capitals for fighting bravely even through injuries in this entire tournament. He also called the Capitals as the best bowling unit and reminded people as to how it is always the bowlers that win 'tournament' for teams.
Veteran analyst and commentator, Harsha Bhogle too praised the Delhi team saying that it was the kind of victory that would boost the morale of the players and also provide satisfaction in the sense that they could bounce back from any position. The commentator further praised Delhi's spinners for bringing the all-important change in the game.
Vimal Kumar, a senior cricket journalist simply pointed out the fact that it was Rajasthan Royals who blew away the chase rather than Delhi Capitals being able to drag the win to their end.
While Vimal's was a blunt criticism of the Royals, Ayaz Memon, one of the finest cricket experts pointed his shots at the batsmen especially the foreign imports of the Rajasthan team for not being able to deliver. He also questioned the batsmen who got a start and then threw it away.
Joy Bhattacharjya, a veteran sports journalist chose to highlight the speed with which Delhi's Anrich Nortje was bowling. The South African pacer delivered the fastest bowl in this edition of the IPL when he clocked 156.22 KMPh to Jos Buttler.
While Delhi would take immense confidence from this game going in to play the Chennai Super Kings on 17th October. They would however want their captain Shreyas Iyer to be fully fit in two days' time. For Rajasthan, it's all about either winning or packing their bags from here on. They would face an in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore on the 17th as well.
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