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Struggling Delhi Capitals hope for home comfort
With three losses in their last four completed matches, Axar Patel’s side face an uphill task against table-toppers Gujarat Titans
New Delhi: Delhi Capitals will look to unlock the secret of winning at home when they host Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday, their first game since the resumption of Indian Premier League (IPL) after an eight-day break. The league was suspended on May 8 after the match between DC and Punjab Kings in Dharamsala was called off midway as tension between India and Pakistan surged.
The forced break would hopefully have given Axar Patel’s team a chance to introspect and course correct, but what is obvious is that the hiatus has cost DC the services of Mitchell Starc, their premier fast bowler who is also their leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps from 14 matches. The other Aussie, DC’s explosive out-of-form batter, Jake Fraser-McGurk, has also not returned and has been replaced by Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman.
“We are taking it as a fresh start. Our focus is on how we began our campaign from the first game, and we will try to maintain that momentum,” DC leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam said on match eve.
“We have a few replacements. It is tough to replace Mitchell Starc, but we have regrouped as a team. We don’t want to dwell on the absence of players, but we will try to give our best with the players available,” he added.
Affected by a collective loss of form, DC have won only once at home this season, that too in the Super Over. Three of their last five completed matches have ended in defeats, and after a rousing start to their campaign when they won four games on the bounce, they lost five of their next seven. It’s a slide that’s as stunning as it is sorry. Little surprise then that DC find themselves in a must-win situation if they are to reach the playoffs without depending on other results.
Against an in-form Gujarat Titans, DC are staring at a tricky fixture. With four wins in their last five games and eight victories this season, GT have emerged as the team to beat. Perched at the top of the points table ahead of Saturday’s game between RCB and KKR, the Shubman Gill-led side has all but secured a top-four spot.
All three of GT’s top three — Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler — have accumulated 500 runs or more this season and are among the top five scorers of this edition. On a Kotla pitch that has baked in the 40°C heat over the week, the passing overnight shower is unlikely to have made much impact. The technical proficiency of openers Gill and Sudharsan will come in handy on such a breaking, sluggish track while DC will hope the experienced Faf du Plessis and KL Rahul come good.
The last meeting between the two sides ended in GT’s thumping seven-wicket win where Buttler’s 54-ball 97 helped them chase down a target of 204.
