The whole nation, heaved a sigh of relief when we saw Rishabh Pant walking into the ground to play his first competitive game in more than a year. Pant is a precious commodity for Indian cricket. The innings that eluded the likes of Tendulkar almost till his retirement, the likes of Kohli that is still eluding him, a match winning innings while chasing in the 4th innings of a Test Match, Pant achieved that early in his career. It was not only match winning but a series winning innings. The sight of him playing international cricket again after a horrific accident, is soothing to the eyes. Everything else, for Delhi Capitals went wrong. It was another forgettable season for Delhi.
Having said that, I still do not rate Pant is as a captain. He just doesn’t have the skills to be a successful captain. He is a brilliant batsman at the Test level and a safe keeper but to anoint him as the captain, be it Delhi or India, is a bit far-fetched. Also,he seemed to be too reliant on the coaching staff to make strategic decisions. Also, I do not think that he can think on his feet. Delhi will have to switch to another player for captaincy.
How did the season went?
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Delhi. They were in the reckoning right till the end. However, it is hard to believe that a team coached by Ricky Ponting for such a longtime, has remained trophy-less all these years. It is not that they lack firepower. Infact, they have it in abundance. A top and middle order consisting of David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh and Pant must be enough to make opposition shudder but they all had flashes of brilliance but collectively, they were a massive let-down.
Prithvi Shaw in particular. It wasn’t that long ago, he played for India and made a walloping debut hundred. Within a coup of years, he was dropped and now, is unlikely to be playing for India again, given his lack of consistency. Perhaps, he may follow his predecessor’s, Unmukt Chand, example and relocate to America where he will probably get to play for USA. He is a huge disappointment and it was no wonder that he didn’t get a consistent run in the middle.
As for Warner, his end is near. It will be better for him to retire from the game entirely. It was tough to see someone like him being dropped from the team for a majority of the games. That he took that in his stride is an altogether different matter but for someone who played international cricket for so long and was reasonably successful, this must hurt.
Youngsters with bright future
Fraser McGurk was a revelation. 330 runs at a strike rate of 234 is incredible. I wonder why he wasn’t introduced earlier in the season. Things could have been different for Delhi. The 4 foreign players rule must be contented with though.
“Some of the things he’s done – I think he’s made three 20-ball fifties in this tournament, so he along with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been the stand-out PowerPlay batsmen in this entire tournament,” DC head coach Ricky Ponting had said.
He was unlucky to miss out on a spot in the Australian World T20 squad. With the imminent retirement of Warner, McGurk will be at the top of the contenders to replace him at the top. Bowlers beware of his presence. Australia will be even more strengthened with his hard hitting at the top.
Other players worthy of mention is the South African, Tristan Stubbs and the Indian Abhishek Porel. Both of them alongwith McGurk kept the flag of Delhi flying where the other more experienced cricketers failed around them. Stubbs handled the end overs expertly and ended up scoring 378 runs at a strike rate of 190 whereas Porel, had 327 runs at 159. Ricky Ponting had lot of praise for Porel.
“I’ve seen extreme growth in Abishek Porel in this IPL. In fact, looking back to the start of last season, obviously (with) Rishabh’s accident, we needed to bring in some wicketkeepers into our squad after the auction. We tried a lot of guys, a lot of guys that played, more senior guys than Porel, but the moment that I laid eyes on him, I knew that he was a very special talent,” Ponting had told the media.
The bowling
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav were decent but the rest weren’t able to suppor them properly. In effect, it left those 2 spinners a lot to do. Infact, Patel ended up being the captain for one game where Pant was ruled out because of a punishment. It is clear where the fault lies for Delhi’s woes. They will have to tighten their bowling in the future.
Wrapping up another forgettable season for Delhi
A tournament that started on a sour note, Delhi had their moments but were unable to carry the momentum. The injury the Mitchell Marsh and the withdrawal of Harry Brook, they weren’t clear with their plans. By the time, the tournament neared its end, they didn’t win the important games to make it to the playoffs. The massive loss against KKR, by 106 runs was sufficient to push them on the backfoot in terms of NRR. Also, the small matter of 1 win the 5 games during the initial stage left them too much to do towards the later stages.
Delhi must change their captain and also, find some good fast bowlers who could pick up wickets during the initial burst.
https://icricketcritique.com/review-of-delhi-capitals-in-ipl-2022/
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https://icricketcritique.com/delhis-struggle-in-ipl-2023/
https://icricketcritique.com/delhi-capitals-ipl-2023-review/