Too close yet too far! After having losing two back-to-back matches, the Delhi Daredevils must be completely heart-broken. Both these matches went down to the wire and no one knew the winner till the last ball was bowled. But all is not lost for JP Duminy and his men. Yes, they have lost 11 matches on the trot since last season, but this is what we call it the testing time.
This team has good players who can deliver. Starting from Duminy, Yuvraj Singh, Imran Tahir and Angelo Mathews to name a few of the stars, all of them are big match-winners. From their experiences, they shouldn’t lose their heart after such close loses. With Mohammed Shami expected to be fit for the next game, what this team really needs is some time out to reflect on certain areas, wherein they went wrong in the first two matches.
Delhi also need to take lots of positives from the fact that they lost their two matches against the top teams in the competition — the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals. From here, this team needs to just keep playing their natural game and not worry too much about the result. Losing two close matches may not go down well with the team management, but luck is a big factor in this T20 format, which they must have taken a note of.
Sunday’s match, for example, is a classic case how a T20 match can change its course. Delhi were literally cruising after scoring a very competitive 184 and reduced the Royals to 78 for four. From there, youngster Deepak Hooda took the charge and demolished the Daredevils attack with four sixes and three fours. Even Ajinkya Rahane batted beautifully. Towards the end, James Faulkner, Chris Morris and Tim Southee who played their roles dutifully with the bat.
