Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock feels Delhi Capitals are continuously getting to poor starts in the last few matches which is a cause of concern for the team.

Pollock believes Delhi is missing the services of Prithvi Shaw, who was recently suffering from Typhoid.

Shaw has missed the last three matches and Mandeep Singh and KS Bharat have got opportunities to open with David Warner in his absence. However, the duo has failed to grab their chances as they have been dismissed cheaply.

Meanwhile, Shaw has been discharged from the hospital but he is expected to miss the last two league stage matches.

Shaw has scored 259 runs in nine matches at an average of 28.78 and a strike rate of 159.87. Thus, he was providing a good start to his team and his services are surely missed by the franchise.

Shaun Pollock said while talking to Cricbuzz, “It’s massive. (Srikar) Bharat’s gone to the top of the order and hasn’t been able to perform in two of the games, which means they are continually getting off to bad starts.”

He added: “We have seen on countless occasions throughout the IPL, particularly through Prithvi Shaw’s career, fantastic fast starts. It’s not ideal. It’s almost like they’ve got the feeling that they are going to be one down after 2-3 overs. Then the pressure gets to the other guys.”

On the other hand, Lisa Sthalekar feels both Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings have been inconsistent throughout the season. Both of them will take on each other on Monday and it could be a virtual quarterfinal. Both DC and PBKS haven’t won two matches in a row, which has left them in a precarious situation.

“Both teams have got one last chance, one roll of the dice to get everything right. It’s funny because it’s the two teams that have literally gone win-loss, win-loss. Based on that, Delhi are expected to lose and maybe Punjab are expected to win.”