NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals skipper, Rishabh Pant, felt that his one-match suspension almost cost Delhi Capital a place in the IPL playoffs. Pant said DC would have had higher chances of winning the crucial game if he was on the ground.
However, Pant was sidelined for the must-win clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday as he was handed a one-match suspension for recording their third slow-over rate offence.Pant’s absence backfired on DC which lost not only that match but also suffered a 47-run defeat affecting its net run rate.
Therefore, DC will need to wait patiently for other matches’ results to see whether they have qualified or not highlighting the importance of Pant’s absences in such an important match.
“I would not say we’d have definitely won the game if I played. We had a better chance of qualifying if I would have had a chance to play in the last game.” Said Pant after DC’s 19-run win over Lucknow Super Giants.
DC went through ups and downs during this season coming close to elimination more than once. However, they came back strongly towards the end raising their hopes of making it into playoffs.
Unfortunately, it became even harder when several key players picked up injuries. Aging pacemen Ishant Sharma as well as Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar all suffered injuries along with opener David Warner.
These absences undoubtedly posed additional hurdles for DC testing their squad depth and mettle in hard times however this team showed commendable spirit while moving through tough challenges aimed at making it into playoffs.
“Beginning with high hopes this season, there were injuries and ups and downs but you cannot keep complaining as a franchise; you make do with what you have… There are certain things which can be controlled and there are those which can’t.”
KL Rahul who captained LSG said that losing wickets during powerplay throughout the season has stopped them from having batsmen like Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran who can hit big.
“That’s been a problem for us throughout the season – we keep losing a lot of wickets in the powerplay, we never get a solid start to get the likes of Stoinis and Pooran in, that is the big reason why we are in this position.” he said.
