Every team participating in IPL since its inception aims to reach the playoff stage to fight out for supremacy. Winning at least 8 out of 14 round robin matches ensures qualification for playoffs. Not reaching that stage is the first disappointment for each team. Delhi Daredevils disappointed by being the first team to be knocked out in this year’s IPL losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their 11th match on 10th May 2018.
This has been their repeat story for Delhi Daredevils franchise since 2013. In this year’s IPL, DD has played 12 matches winning just 3 and losing 9 matches. There have been some brilliant performances from young Indian players like Pant, Sheryas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw but not performed as a unit mainly due to the failure of established and senior players which led to another disappointing season.
Here are 5 reasons for Delhi Daredevils’ dismal performance in IPL
1. Injuries to their key players
Before the IPL 11 started, Delhi Daredevils were dealt a major blow as their key fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was ruled out due to an injury. He had played a key role in South Africa’s test series win over Australia in South Africa. Rabada would have made a huge difference with his attacking bowling.
Delhi Daredevils had to deal another major blow when their star all-rounder Chris Morris was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. It left them with little bowling options as Liam Plunkett could not fill in the shoes of Rabada.
2. Glenn Maxwell poor performance with the bat
The big price all-around player, Glenn Maxwell who was bought by Delhi Daredevils franchise for RS 9 Crores failed to deliver with the bat time and again that led to inconsistent performances. He has played so far a total of 10 matches and scored just 142 runs with best being 47.
In the first few matches, Glenn Maxwell came in the middle order but he could not capitalize the initiative of the top order. He was moved up the batting line up to open the innings, with no better results. Even with the ball, Maxwell only took 5 wickets in 10 matches. Overall, Maxwell’s all-around poor performance let Delhi Daredevils down miserably.
3. Gautam Gambhir stepping down from captaincy
Facing the challenge of leading the team from the front in view of the retirement of Zaheer Khan, Delhi Daredevils franchise not only bought Gautam Gambhir for RS 2.8 Crores but also named him as the captain of the team, looking at his winning streak for Kolkata Knight Riders. His contribution as a batsman in the first six matches was just 85 runs in 6 matches.
Frustrated with batting performance and the team not gelling well, Gambhir stepped down from the captaincy. He did not even find a place in the playing XI since relinquishing captaincy. Delhi Daredevils named Sheryas Iyer as the captain and the fortune did not change much as he was able to lead the team winning just 2 matches out of 5 under his captaincy.
4. Poor performance by bowling unit
The bowling of Delhi Daredevils in this year’s IPL has lacked the firepower to trouble top batsmen. Neither their pace bowlers nor the spinners except Trent Boult are among only DD bowler in top 10 leading wicket takers in IPL 2018 with 13 wickets from 11 matches with an expensive economy of 9.17 runs per over.
Amit Mishra did not play first few matches. In the 7 matches he played in this tournament so far, Mishra has taken just 6 wickets with an economy of 7.68 runs per over. Also the bowling spearhead Mohammad Shami could not play many matches. They changed their bowling combinations but nothing worked as the opposition took on DD bowlers with ease.
The fielding also was disappointing with many catches dropped.
5. Failed to perform as a unit
The young Indian players like Pant, Sheryas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw were leading the leading runs scorers for Delhi Daredevils in IPL 18, but as a unit, they never clicked either with the bat or with the ball.
Rishabh Pant is the leading runs scorer with 521 runs from 11 matches at an average of 52.10. He is only Indian batsman to score a century in the current season with the best score of 128* against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 10th May. He also scored 3 half centuries.
Sheryas Iyer also performed well scoring 354 runs from 11 matches. The Under 19 captain Shaw made his IPL debut and showed his class with the bat scoring 214 runs from 6 matches at an average of 35.66. His best score in the tournament has been 65.
The overseas players like Jason Roy, Collin Munro failed to perform according to their known potentials. Delhi Daredevils lacked a genuine all-rounder in the team. Vijay Shankar played 10 matches and scored 112 runs. His bowling performance was also poor taking 1 wicket from 10 matches with an economy of 12.83 runs per over.