Guwahati: Trent Boult struck twice in the opening over of Delhi Capitals’ 200-run chase against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday in Guwahati. If the ask was challenging from the onset, it got tougher with the loss of Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey. To compound DC’s problems, the seamer restricted any runs to flow either.
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Eventually, RR beat DC by 57 runs to go top of the Indian Premier League standings while Delhi suffered their third straight loss leaving them winless this season.
Delhi Capitals captain David Warner, who scored 65 runs, said Boult’s dobule-wicket over made things difficult for them.
“Can’t take the credit from how good a bowler Trent Boult is in the powerplay and he bowled extremely well. It was always going to be a challenge to come out here and chase 200 with early wickets in the powerplay,” Warner said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Later, fellow Aussie and Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, echoed the praise for Boult. With Shaw going down to a seamer once again, Ponting was asked if the young Indian batter has chinks in his armour that need work.
“I don’t think it’s the pace. I don’t think Trent Boult’s pace worried him. I think the moving ball worried him today. If you guys watched him bat yesterday at nets, he looked a million dollars, his preparation was good,” Ponting said.
But as one had seen with Mitchell Starc during Tests in Australia, or Boult during the 2020 New Zealand series, Shaw’s problems against left-arm swing bowlers are well-documented.
“Maybe it’s something to think that he has got poor record against left handers, which every opposition knows and something that we need to work with him.
“We won’t point finger at one person and that’s not what we do at DC, we are in this all together and we have to find a better way to play as 11 or 12,” he said.
Third straight defeat for Delhi Capitals
Ponting admitted Delhi Capitals are a “long way off” from being competitive and was finding it difficult to pinpoint where they were going wrong.
“We are a long way off right now and I can’t put my finger on why. If I watch these boys train and prepare, their work has been really good but it hasn’t just come across as any results yet on the field. So if I could put my finger on it, I would change it,” an upset Ponting said in the post match interaction.
He was pretty straightforward in admitting the playing combinations haven’t worked so far.
“We have to think about players we are putting on ground as what we have put in hasn’t worked, as a coaching group we will talk with our captain and take a call,” Ponting said.
In bid for some desperate tunraround, Ponting wants to give the team a day’s break and then have some frank conversations with the pack about what’s going wrong.
“We need to do some soul searching as a group and may be not tonight as I will let the boys think about it tonight and may be come back tomorrow or day after,” Ponting said.
“But we need to turn around our cricket quickly and three games and no wins, you can’t afford to get bad starts in IPL.”
The only bright spark in Delhi’s poor campaign thus far has been the skipper Warner. He’s scored 56, 37 and 65 runs against LSG, GT and RR in the three games. But the Australia veteran’s 55-ball 65 runs never posed any threat.
“It’s always difficult when we are losing wickets at the other end. It is frustrating. I have been hitting a lot of the fielders of late, but I will keep going out there and back myself,” he said.
“We are professional athletes, and have to go back in the nets. It’s about executing, and hopefully we can regroup.”
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