There’s no heroism as great as finishing fifth in this fiercely competitive league. Delhi missed the bus but by just.
The feeling of being so close, yet so far; the feelings of despair from the moment of ecstasy; the feeling of being on the road to victory, only to lose at the fag end.
A young team led by an upcoming talent house, Rishabh Pant had it in his pocket, he just had to use it and with all due respect to umpires, the umpiring in this IPL has been utter nonsense. Asked to bat on a slightly difficult pitch, DC got the par score which seemed enough for the most part until Tim David came. Tim David, the replacement for Kieran Pollard, did remind us of a younger Pollard(Even Pollard would have given him a standing ovation) and his performance came on a wrong day for Delhi; A day such where Rishabh would have lost the toss even with two Head side coins. Rishabh Pant’s judgment and his reluctance to use DRS went heavily against him and DC. Any captain considering Tim’s form would have opted for DRS but not Rishabh, a decision which he might rue for the rest of his life.
Well, he is equally responsible for his catch drop too, a cardinal sin considering the occasion and significance of the match. Rishabh Pant’s many decisions including his preference for Tom Curran over Rabada in last year’s playoffs went badly against him and the distance from playoffs to finals to victory keeps getting longer and longer for millions of DC fans worldwide.
DC, along with Punjab and Bengaluru(amongst all the old teams) are the only three cities yet to win an IPL title, and it’s indeed a shame considering the form which Delhi has been and their players. DC was in the finals a couple of seasons back and has been a regular in playoffs, however this season, they just ran out of gas at the last moment.
Ricky Ponting may keep wearing his broad grin and Rishabh might try to motivate with his idiosyncrasies but this team has a lot of work pending if it’s ever going to win the IPL. DC players may be the most talented bunch of cricketers, but they do need to strengthen their bowling and batting departments. For eg: you cannot win consistently with players like Khaleel Ahmed. Rishabh’s form too has been patchy, to say the least, with consistency missing in his international as well as IPL careers, and the loss of Shikhar has been a too big hole to fill.
Rishabh’s captaincy also has many leaking points, and some of his decisions have been very controversial, like bowling Tom Curran instead of Rabada in last year’s playoff or not opting for DRS or opting for DRS in a comical way.
A bit of spark from anywhere is needed in DC camps, and we do hope their form gets better next year with better recruitment and consistency from their core players like Warner, Shaw, Rishabh, and Nortje.
You might knock on the door every time, but unless it’s victory, fans do feel cheated and the long wait of 15 years for a trophy is making the Delhi Capitals look more and more desperate. And the city which is famous for being magnanimous needs its team to show more heart in matches.
Featured Image Credits: Twitter @DelhiCapitals
