Chances of Delhi Capitals qualifying for the IPL playoffs took a big hit on Sunday when Rishabh Pant-less DC suffered a crushing defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Now, DC have to win their remaining games by big margins to provide themselves with a chance to qualify for the playoffs. DC bowling coach James Hope after the match blamed team’s poor fielding and hapless batting for the loss, claiming these kind of performances won’t help one win too many games in the tournament.
Batting first, RCB were helped by DC fielders as the latter dropped 4 catches in the innings. RCB finished with a total of 187. Chasing a fairly big score, Delhi Capitals struggled with run-outs and cheap dismissals. Ultimately, they fell 47 runs short of the target, handing RCB an easy win.
Too many dropped catches
DC bowling coach was straight-forward in the post-match press conference. Hope claimed DC did not earn the right to win the match with lackluster fielding and rueful batting.
“I think you always take a 180 here. We dropped 4 catches. We take them, we restrict them to 160-165. which could have been the difference in the end. But when you go out there and field like that and don’t put it together with the bat, you’re not going to win too many games in the tournament,” he said.
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Mistakes galore
DC also had mix-ups in the middle while batting. Jake Fraser-McGurk and Tristan Stubbs were run out.
“We made plenty of mistakes tonight. It’s unfortunate circumstances when you are run-out after getting a good start like Jake did. The run-out of Stubbs, who is up there with the best finishers in the tournament, also hurt our chances,” he said.
Playoff chances bleak?
On DC’s chances of making it to the playoffs, Hope said, “Now, we have to win our remaining games and we have to win big. Fortunately we are going back to Delhi where big scores have been a norm for this tournament. Today was our chance to boost our playoff chances but we have left it up to fate now.”
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