IPL 2017: Delhi Daredevils (DD) need to get in the right side of the result, feels Rahul Dravid
IPL 2017: DD need to get in the right side of the result, feels Rahul Dravid
The final game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 league stages saw Zaheer Khan’s Delhi Daredevils (DD) succumbing to another defeat. Their 10-run defeat against Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), in match 56 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. Meanwhile, Delhi’s chief mentor Rahul Dravid feels the team lacked consistency, along with quite few injuries the side suffered. However, he denied considering them as an excuse, but backed Delhi’s ability to perform well. He felt it was time to take the positives and decide for the future. Full Cricket Scorecard: Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), IPL 2017, Match 56 at Delhi
“Obviously we are disappointed with our performance this season. We were pretty confident initially during the season that we could qualify. However, it did not happen. There were a few games in the middle, which were fought pretty close but we could not win. It eventually creates pressure on you when you fail to win a close tie. There were about five or six games, which we could have won, but we could not cross the line. Therefore, it is surely a disappointment. You need to win a few close matches. Including today’s game, we have played about seven to eight close games, but we managed to win just a couple. Therefore, losing six close games makes things difficult for you. Had we one one or more games, situation could have been different,” Dravid addressed during the post match press conference to iplT20/BCCI.
“There has been strong intent from few of the players from our side. There were a few injuries as well, which led to a disturbance in the balance of the side initially. However, I should say that we lacked some potential. In this tournament, you need at least eight wins. Nevertheless, we won six games, which leads to a disappointment that we failed to qualify just on the basis of losing a game,” he added. Full Cricket Updates: Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), IPL 2017, Match 56 at Delhi
Dravid also hailed Rishabh Pant who has been in top-notch form this season, “Rishabh has played brilliantly in the tournament. A few of our young players also have performed well. However, consistency is one thing, which they need to learn in the future. Nevertheless, there is ability in many of them, including Rishabh, who has shown great resilience with some fine innings. He started the tournament on a difficult situation, as his father had expired. He showed his strong mental strength, as he recovered from it and performed sensibly right through the season, and I firmly believe he would become an important player in the future for India.”
Speaking on the future of DD following the conclusion of their campaign this season, Dravid added, “It’s not the right time, just after a match like this to assess and figure out what is going to happen in the future. I am sure about the people who would be making those decisions. However, if you look at our season for the last couple of years, I believe we have shown firm improvement as we rather looked to go in the right direction. Nevertheless, it has not been enough. It is a tough tournament and you have very good teams, while you need to win those games. We had seven or eight games, which were close, while we only won a couple, as we lost five. You just cannot afford to lose so many games. We need to get in the right side of the result. It obviously will be a little disappointing, and I feel there have been positives right through the season.”
Dravid spoke on the playoffs and his expectations from the remaining teams,”Once you get into the playoffs, it’s the top two teams who get a couple of chances to get into the final. And once you get into the final, all you require is one good innings or one good spell or one piece of brilliance to win this tournament. All the four teams qualified have the players to do that. Mumbai Indians [MI] looks like they have a balanced side. Having said that, KKR [Kolkata Knight Riders] have shown as well that they have some dangerous players in the tournament, who can do well. Rising Pune Supergiant [RPS] have been performing really well collectively as a unit. Sunrisers [Hyderabad] have quality players like David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Rashid Khan, who are doing well. So, I feel the players, who would stand up for their team over the next few days would win it,” he said.
On being asked if Delhi lacked experienced players, Dravid mentioned, “When you look at Team India, you think the batsmen are all very talented, and probably they have experience than some other people. However, you need to see it in a slightly different and larger context, because when you see a couple of years ago, in the middle of a big action, you are not going to get enough experienced Indian players. Nobody releases experienced Indian players. Once, sort of Indian players are in a franchise, it is very rare that they are released in the middle of an auction.”
“Therefore, we took the decision to back some more Indian talent and balance it out with some foreign experienced players. Unfortunately for us, at the start of the season, after the auction, Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy were a few of the experienced players, who pulled out of the IPL because of injury. That suddenly made us look for replacements in the last minute and I guess it’s not easy when most of the players are taken.”
“Therefore, it is a fact that we try to balance it out and try to go in with an experienced bowling attack, because we knew we had young Indian batsmen. I think there is a lot of talent, along with good ability in the group. However, we sometimes did not get the balance right, and maybe we did not have the luck. We got injuries at the wrong time, while many couple of people did not kick on when we would have liked, and that is the nature of the tournament. However, I really do not want to make any excuses since we had our opportunities and we just haven’t taken them, which is a disappointment,” he added.
Dravid spoke about a few notable players from his side and also felt 180-200 would have been an ideal score in Kotla, “We have all seen a few flashes of brilliance, including some fantastic performances, as well as score a hundred in some of the innings they have played. However, we would have liked him to be a bit more consistent. Sometimes, when you are on a bit of a roll, you cannot afford to relax and you have to keep going because it is tough. You get into a bit of a slump and you have a few bad games. It is a hard tournament for a batsman, because you have to keep playing shots, you have to keep scoring. There were a lot of time when we were chasing 180, 200 on this ground. We chased 190, so we have always been chasing high scores at time, and sometimes, you have to keep playing shots. That is not easy when you are not in the form. Therefore, if you are in good form, you really need to cash in and make it count.”
DD had a few hiccups in the middle. Some key players had to leave for their national duties while some were struck by injuries “Sometimes, there were forced changes due to injuries, like Corey Anderson in the start, who was the Man of the Match against Kings XI [Punjab], but then he gets injured and misses two games. Zaheer Khan was injured in the middle for two or three games, while Chris Morris also was injured during the back end of the tournament. Sometimes, you need to take calculated decisions. Shreyas Iyer was not there for the first two games, which we kicked off. So few of the changes were a forced one due to injuries and niggles that people had. Sometimes you do make tactical changes as well, if people are not in form,” Dravid added.
“Therefore, it is hard to assess, as each and every game was different. Nevertheless, that is not really an excuse, as we had the squad and players to make up for that. I think the team was good, maybe a little bit inexperienced because of the injuries early on. However, I still think we had the ability along with many opportunities in many games, which I look back. In fact, in five or six games, we were actually ahead, and we could not close out those games and maybe it is the lack of experience. Maybe this is something we can learn from and take ahead in the future,” he concluded.