Mumbai: The failure to find a settled opening pair throughout the season is one of the reasons why Delhi Capitals have not progressed into the IPL knockout stage despite an impressive start, says head coach Hemang Badani.
Delhi Capitals crashed out of the race to reach the IPL playoffs with a 59-run loss to Mumbai Indians here on Wednesday, which was also their fifth defeat in last seven matches with one victory and a washed out contest.
Delhi Capitals tried out as many as seven partners with no considerable success in 13 matches, and will now take on Punjab Kings in their last game on Saturday. “A settled opening pair is only possible when your opening pair gives you a start. If you don’t get starts, you are bound to make changes to try and fill that gap, fill that void,” Badani told the media here.
“If you go back and see the other sides which have had great starts and great powerplays with the bat, we haven’t had those starts and hence we’ve had to make those changes.“We had Jake (Fraser-McGurk) at the top earlier, it didn’t work for us. Abishek (Porel), then we had Faf (du Plessis), then we also had Karun (Nair) to come in. It’s just that we haven’t had anyone really making sure, ensuring that we get off to good starts,” he added. Badani continued: “Our opening at the top was a worry for us and I think one of the reasons why we haven’t gone forward.”
KL Rahul’s performance has perhaps been the only bright spot in the DC lineup with the India wicketkeeper-batter scoring 504 runs and 13 matches so far. Badani said Rahul is not taking any additional pressure after he right-hander was dismissed for 11 having moved to the opening slot.