Following the Delhi Capitals (DC) washout, Indian spin veteran Piyush Chawla expressed doubts over the Blue and Red team’s hopes for the playoffs, saying that they look in danger of losing their chance of reaching the final four stage. After a low-scoring innings at Uppal Stadium, DC managed to escape a potential loss and walked away with one point to their names, keeping their playoff hopes alive. After win in their first five matches, DC has been shaky, with just a win, four losses and a no result in their knext games. Speaking on the ‘Match Centre Live’ on JioHotstar, JioStar Expert Piyush talked about changes in DC’s opening line-up and backed Jake Fraser McGurk to play again after a string of failures.
“When KL Rahul opened (against CSK), it was a forced change because Faf du Plessis was injured. Rahul was meant to bat at number three or four to anchor the innings during pressure situations. DC has already tried six or seven combinations at the top. Their biggest bet was Jake Fraser-McGurk, which didn’t pay off recently. But I feel they should go back to him — if he fires, he can give you explosive start in the powerplay. If he does not, it is no different from what is already happening,” he added.
DC’s opening partnership has averaged 20.18 this year, the worst among all teams. On top of that, there is no stability in the opening line-up, with six different combinations tried. Jake Fraser McGurk (55 runs in six innings with the best score of 38), Abishek Porel (191 runs in seven innings at an average of 27.28 with a fifty), Faf Du Plessis (168 runs in six innings at an average of 28.00 with two fifties), KL Rahul (77 against Chennai Super Kings) and Karun Nair (65 runs in five innings at an average of 13.00 with no scores of 20 or more) have been tried out as openers in different combinations.
Piyush said that for DC, it is a time to take bold decisions.
“They are in a do-or-die situation. A team that once looked like the first to seal a play-off spot is now in danger of missing out entirely. It is going to be really tough. In their last six games, they’ve lost four. While the game was not completely over for DC against SRH, it looked like it was heading SRH’s way based on the total they posted. The next three games are critical and they need to win at least two — ideally all three — and for that to happen, their experienced players must step up and deliver,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, after being reduced to 29/5, knocks from Tristan Stubbs (41* in 36 balls, with four boundaries) and Ashutosh Sharma (41 in 26 balls, with two fours and three sixes) took DC to 133/7. SRH could not chase as the game was washed out.
DC is in the fifth spot with six wins, four losses, and a no result, giving them 13 points. SRH is in the eighth spot, with three wins, seven losses, and a no result, giving them seven points.
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