When after another fallow season, Delhi Capitals decided to part ways with Ricky Ponting and brought in Hemang Badani as their new coach, it felt like the franchise wanted a reboot, and going back to the roots. A marquee presence in the backroom staff was required and Kevin Pietersen’s appointment as the team mentor filled the void. The former England captain has a close relationship with DC co-owner and the chairman of GMR Group, Kiran Kumar Grandhi. The hierarchy must have thought that his winning mentality would rub off on the players.
It started so well for DC. They won five of their first six matches. Then, the slide began – just one victory in their next five games. A washout against Sunrisers Hyderabad gave them a fortuitous point that they didn’t deserve after posting 133/7 in 20 overs. They stay put at fifth in the league standings with 13 points from 11 matches and qualifying for the playoffs still might happen if they can turn things around quickly. At the moment though, it looks unlikely. SRH, meanwhile, were eliminated.
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DC’s batting implosion against SRH was symptomatic of a side that seemingly has lost confidence. The innings went nowhere, except for a brief period at the death, when Tristan Stubbs (41 not out, 36 balls) and Impact Sub Ashutosh Sharma (41, 26 balls) added 66 runs for the seventh wicket to give the total some respectability. On a pitch that had some extra bounce and a bit of movement, Pat Cummins decimated DC’s top order.
During the innings break, Jaydev Unadkat, the SRH medium pacer, spoke about how their hit-the-deck plan paid dividends. “The basic plan was the same to hit the deck and varying the pace, which is also the strength of a lot of our bowlers,” Unadkat told the host broadcaster. “Getting those wickets at crucial times was important and it helped us stop runs as well.”
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In sport, when a team is caught in a downward spiral, it becomes very difficult to pull things back.
Interestingly, DC’s free-fall has coincided with KL Rahul becoming inconsistent with the bat. The wicketkeeper-batsman left Lucknow Super Giants in challenging circumstances. DC bought him for Rs 14 crore and gave him the platform to prove a point.
Rahul wanted to play with “freedom” and his unfettered approach saw him play a couple of match-winning knocks – 77 off 51 balls against Chennai Super Kings and 93 not out off 53 deliveries against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He has scored just one half-century since – 57 not out off 42 balls against LSG. It was a game that his team won. Against SRH, he was DC’s best bet to take the game deep. Rahul departed for 10 off 14 balls instead.
Collectively also, DC’s batting has failed to perform. Save Rahul, no player has crossed the 300-run mark yet. On the bowling front, Mitchell Starc and especially Kuldeep Yadav suddenly losing their mojo have hurt the side. As regards captaincy, Axar Patel was impressive during the first-half of the tournament. Of late, though, there were some questionable calls. Not giving Starc the final over against RCB was a case in point.
Coming back to Pietersen, yes, he is helping the young Indian batsmen in the side, while giving positive vibes. But developing a winning mentality takes time, especially for a side that hasn’t tested success. Ponting as Punjab Kings coach, meanwhile, has taken his team on the verge of playoffs.
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