Task cut out for Capitals as they eye playoff berth
MUMBAI: Given the jostle for playoff berths, Delhi Capitals will need to crash someone else’s party to be among the last four. To finish with 16 points, they will also be required to do something they haven’t done yet this season: string together a hattrick of wins, counting Wednesday’s victory over Rajasthan Royals.
Leave alone win three in a row, they have suffered a loss after every victory. It’s been that kind of a season for the Capitals for reasons on and off the field. But has Capitals’ luck finally turned in Wednesday’s win against Rajasthan Royals?
Mitchell Marsh and David Warner would have lost count of the number of times the ball beat the bat in the opening overs. “The ball was skidding and nipping around. It was one of the tougher powerplays since I started playing T20 cricket. We just decided we had to get through unscathed,” said Marsh.
They did. Marsh was destined to make a mark in IPL 15 so Trent Boult didn’t review a toe crusher that replays showed had rammed into the batter’s pad and was hitting wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal got Warner out, well he should have on 22 but though the zing bail lit up, it did not fall.
“I was due for some luck,” Warner said. Marsh finished with 89, Warner unbeaten on 52 and Capitals prevailed. Capitals started the season without their enforcer Anrich Nortje who was recovering from a worrying back and hip injury. Their bowling lacked sting, having lost Kagiso Rabada in the auction. Marsh was struck by Covid and moved to a hospital. Before him, physio Patrick Farhart got Covid and head coach Ricky Ponting had to spend a week in isolation after one of his family members tested positive. While Ponting was away, Capitals cracked up with captain Rishabh Pant summoning assistant coach Pravin Amre on the field to argue with the umpires when a crucial waisthigh no ball went against them against RR. “I broke 3-4 remote controls. 3 or 4 bottles of water might have got thrown into the wall,” Ponting said. “Being a coach and you can’t control what’s happening in the middle. When you are not on the sidelines, and sending text messages every over saying, ‘do this, do that,’ it got more frustrating.”
If all that wasn’t enough, one half of their successful opening partnership, Prithvi Shaw, is now down with typhoid. It’s uncertain if he can return. For all his tactical acumen, Ponting has been stretched, Capitals’ reserves severely tested with 19 players having taken the field.
Capitals are one of the three franchises without an IPL title. They have rejigged squads, changed team identity, brought in new co-owners and are trusting their most valued off-field resource in Ponting to get them through. They came closest in 2021 but lost to MI in the final. They topped the points table last year, before losing form in the playoffs. To have any chance this year, they would be looking for a late surge in form.