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Since the beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) have displayed disappointing performances with the franchise not being able to cross the top four mark 11 times from the 17 editions they played. The fragile story for DC continued this year too with the Rishabh Pant-led side getting eliminated before even qualifying for the final four.
In the 17th edition, the inconsistency in the batting order which was coupled with injuries to main players added the woes for the side. Apart from that, the failure to play as a collective unit has let the team down on many winning occasions.
3 Reasons why Delhi Capitals didn't qualify for IPL 2024 playoffs
Erratic batting order from the start
Starting from game one, Delhi Capitals management didn’t have a certain position for any batter and kept shuffling the players in the batting order. The problem coupled with some injuries to their mainstays and poor run by batters like David Warner. In fact for the opening order as well, the team stumbled with numerous pairs opening the game for them.
Pairs like David Warner-Mitchell Marsh, David Warner-Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk-Abishek Porel, and others took the position of batting up the order and the constant shuffling led to poor returns by the batters in the set-up.
Too much reliability on Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant returned to the field after 15 months owing to a horrific car accident that occurred in December 2022. After missing out on the 2023 season, the Indian keeper-batter returned to the side for the ongoing season and exhibited a marvelous performance both with the bat and keeping as well.
Pant too impressed with his tactical brilliance barring on some occasions. However, the team’s over-reliability on his still weak shoulders got the better of him as he floundered on some crucial moments which led to the side’s dismal performance.
Failed to perform collectively as a unit
Even after one more season, the story continued for the Delhi-based franchise with the team failing to perform as a collective unit throughout the season. While it is being said that batters win matches and bowlers win tournaments, it was nothing in unison for Pant’s side as failure in one of the departments led to heartbreaking defeats in some crucial junctures of the match.
In one of the games against Mumbai Indians, the bowling leaked the monumental score of 234, where their explicable batting effort pushed them close to the target and eventually lost by just 29 runs. Also, the run cascade by KKR and SRH against their bowling line-up accounts for their poor show.
