With the race to the four-team playoffs having entered the home stretch, Delhi Capitals take on Rajasthan Royals in a must-win game at the DY Patil Stadium here on Wednesday. Delhi’s hopes of entering the last four suffered a severe dent when they were thrashed by 91 runs by defending champions Chennai Super Kings here on May 8.
It was a collective failure by Delhi as they allowed CSK to mount an imposing total of 208 and then crashed for 117 well inside the 20 overs in chasing the target. Head coach Ricky Ponting said after the heavy loss that Delhi still had a chance to make the playoffs if they can win their remaining three round robin matches, at least one of them with a heavy margin, and pray that other results go their way in the qualification process.
His assumption is based on the theory that for a team to make the playoffs at least eight wins out of 14 preliminary games were necessary. Delhi have won five out of 11 so far and have matches in hand against the Royals, Punjab Kings (May 16), and Mumbai Indians (May 21). Opener David Warner (375 runs in 9 matches) has been in the forefront of their batting deeds with his attacking instincts in the company of Prithvi Shaw (259 in 9) who missed the game against CSK as he was not well. Delhi will be hoping that captain Rishabh Pant (281 runs) does not fritter away good starts.
They have an excellent finisher in Rovman Powell (205 runs) but the powerfully built West Indian needs the top order to fire for him to apply the devastating touch at the end. Kuldeep Yadav, with 18 wickets under his belt, has been Delhi’s main wicket taker but he has shown a tendency to wilt in the face of brutal assault as was shown by Devon Conway of CSK.
Delhi’s assistant coach Shane Watson hoped the team can properly execute the plans chalked out. “Our biggest challenge this season has been our execution. We have executed our plans in all three departments at times, but we’ve not been able to be consistent. Hopefully, we can execute our plans over the last three games,” Watson said ahead of the key match.
