NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Powerplay woes haunted Delhi Capitals as the David Warner-led side lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, making their fifth consecutive defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Delhi, the league’s only winless side this season, remained rooted at the bottom of the 10-team league after another slipshod show by a stuttering top order that includes Warner.
The Australian is second in the list of this season’s leading scorers but the 228 runs he tallied in five matches have come at a strike rate of 117, which is lowest among the top 10 batters.
Their bowlers did a decent job restricting Bangalore to 174-6 but Delhi lost three wickets in their first three overs and the top half of their batting order perished for 53 runs.
Manish Pandey’s breezy 50 helped Delhi finish on 151-9 and some serious introspection could be on the cards before they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their next match on Thursday.
“We didn’t build partnerships chasing that total,” a dejected Warner said after the defeat.
“It should have been an easy task but unfortunately we didn’t come up trumps.
“We lost three wickets in the powerplay and runouts are non-negotiable in this format and that sometimes can cost you the game.”
Warner said Delhi would have to find a way to score rapidly in the first six overs without losing too many wickets.
“We’re going to have to try to work out how we’re going to take on the powerplay and not lose early wickets, especially in the first two or three overs. That’s going to hurt you in a lot of games.”
Warner, who led Sunrisers Hyderabad to their only IPL title in 2016, was still hopeful of a turnaround though.
“We have to have a hard look at ourselves and come back strong with five days off.
“Things aren’t working at the moment but teams have come back from 0-5 so hopefully we can be that second team.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
