Former Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla reckons there will be some panic in Delhi Capitals’ camp after they were hammered by Royal Challengers Bengaluru by nine wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Monday.
The home team was skittled out for a paltry score of 75 runs as their batters could not get going. The top six batters failed to even reach the double digit mark and DC were left reeling at 8-6.
Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar breathed down the neck of the DC’s batters, taking four and three wickets wickets respectively.
Piyush Chawla said on ESPN Cricinfo, “There will be some panic around for sure, knowing the history of Delhi Capitals. But that’s not the right time [for it] now. They need to sit together, discuss about it, and they have to start fresh – because they started off pretty well in the tournament, and it’s not like in three weeks, the team has changed or the way of playing has changed.”
Earlier, DC had failed to defend a huge target of 265 runs against Punjab Kings, and Chawla reckons that loss might come back to haunt Axar Patel’s team.
“Later, in the business end of the tournament, when they look back at it, those two points will definitely come to haunt them if they are not qualifying. So right now, is the time [when] they just have to forget everything and move on, start playing some positive cricket, and just make sure there’s a very positive environment in the dressing room because that plays a huge role.”
Chawla reckons the most difficult thing for Delhi Capitals will be to move forward and leave the disappointing results behind them.
“The most difficult thing [for DC] is to just come together, sit together, and talk about it, and just say, ‘Okay, now that is gone’. We are not out of the tournament, and we are the same team who has done well in the past, we have won four-five games on the trot last year as well and still we didn’t qualify. But this year we have to change the history, and just go out there, express yourself, and play with positive intent.
Delhi Capitals will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur, on Friday.
