After the Delhi Capitals (DC) folded for 75 against RCB and sank to a new low, former India spinner Piyush Chawla urged the team not to panic and forget this game as quickly as possible and move on. For the record, DC batted first and were rocked by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in the power play to be 8/6 at one stage. Abishek Porel’s 30 and others down the order chipping in took the score to 75 before RCB completed the formalities. With DC in 7th place and poor NRR, there is bound to be panic, which Chawla is advising against.
Piyush Chawla urges calm over panic.Â
Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo’s Time Out show, Piyush Chawla said, “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 it, and they have to start fresh- because they started pretty well in the tournament, and it’s not like in three weeks, the team has changed or the way the playing has changed.”Â
Two days after posting their highest total in the IPL, DC crumbled to their third-lowest total, against RCB, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. They started the season strongly with back-to-back wins, but then managed just one win in their next six games, with dropped catches at crucial stages hurting them. On Saturday, Karun Nair dropped Shreyas Iyer twice as the Punjab Kings (PBKS) went on to secure the highest successful T20 chase.
Piyush Chawla said, “Later in the business end of the tournament, when they look back at it, those two points will definitely haunt them if they do not qualify for the playoffs. 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.”
Piyush Chawla further added: “When things are not going your way. It’s very, very easy for any team to just scatter and just talk behind the back that this guy would have done that, he would have taken that single, this guy would have taken that catch.”Â
Piyush Chawla urges DC to come and sit together.Â
In the previous season, DC had started with four wins in a row, but won only three of their next ten games. They eventually finished fifth and missed out on the playoffs, for which they had last qualified in 2021.
Piyush Chawla said: “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.’ These things are not in our control, and still we are in them. We are not out of the tournament, and we are the same team that has done well in the past. We have won four or five games on the trot last year as well, and still we didn’t qualify. But this year we have to change history, and just go out there, express yourself, and play with positive intent.”Â
Piyush Chawla further added: “That’s all you can say because it’s not about the skill level here right now because everyone is skilful- that’s why they are playing here- it’s just about being positive and the leader needs to take that initiative, and make sure everyone is held together.”Â
DC’s next game will be against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur on May 1st. It remains to be seen whether DC can forget and move on from this game and come back with a bang against high-flying Rajasthan Royals.
Also Read:Â DC vs RCB: Josh Hazlewood & Bhuvneshwar Kumar Decimates DC