The list of excuses for Delhi Capitals’ collapse against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday began with the shock defeat to Punjab Kings two days prior. Fronting up to the media after a dire performance from his batting lineup, skipper Axar Patel admitted that the defeat to Punjab on Saturday, where the visitors managed the highest run-chase in IPL history, impacted his players.
Axar said that not only was it a huge psychological blow, after which they had to dust themselves off quickly and play again, but also influenced the thinking of the batters about the kind of pitch they should expect.
“After what happened in the last game (not being able to defend 264 against Punjab), I feel like the team’s morale went down. After scoring so many runs, nine times out of ten, you win the game. But the team were down that they could not defend that score. I felt there was a little hesitation because of that,” he said at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds on Monday.
“The batters felt like the ball will come onto the bat as nicely as it was on Saturday. And they probably thought that they needed to score even more than they did so they came out with that mindset,” he added.
But the pitch was not as flat as it was on Saturday, and a quality new-ball spell from Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar skittled Delhi to the lowest powerplay score in IPL history – 13 for six – and eventually had them 75 all out.
“Luck played a role today,” Axar said. “All the batters kept getting out within one or two balls, it’s not like anyone got set and lost their wicket. Nobody was able to stand tall. To lose three wickets in 15 or 16 balls was tough. We will just have to move on from this day.”
