Rishabh Pant is beaten all ends up while attempting an expansive shot. (PTI)Two runs to win from two deliveries. It looked like a simple assignment for Delhi Capitals. Hanuma Vihari, the batsman on strike, swats Kolkata Knight Riders’ chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav to Shubman Gill, stationed on the deep mid-wicket fence. Under the circumstances, in fact, under any circumstances, that was a poor shot. Thankfully for Vihari, his btain fade did not return to haunt him that night as Delhi went on to win the match in the Super Over.
Two nights ago, Vihari found himself back in the cauldron. Up against the Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, Delhi required 19 runs to win from 10 deliveries, and the Capitals had pinned their hopes on the 25-year-old to see them past the finish line. He fluffed it up yet again, and Mohammed Shami hit his middle and leg stumps.
Vihari was not the lone culprit. Delhi, in fact, were poised to overhaul Punjab’s 166 with ease before their innings capsized following an inexplicable shot, under the circumstances, by Rishabh Pant and the visitors lost their last seven wickets for eight runs. In both these matches — against KKR and KXIP — Delhi had the game under control before imploding. The series of bizarre dismissals has added to Capitals’ selection woes ahead of their home duel against the rampant Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Delhi’s batting is fundamentally built around their top-4 — openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, captain Shreyas Iyer and Pant. The batsmen following them are Vihari and Colin Ingram — who have hardly done anything of merit to inspire confidence. Vihari is in the conventional mould and not an extravagant hitter. “Vihari is someone who should ideally bat higher in the order, but if you see the composition of our team, there’s no other spot available and hence he should make most of whatever opportunity that he’s getting,” assistant coach Mohammad Kaif observed.
Kaif came out in support of his under-fire middle order, saying they have their task cut out when they come into bat towards the fag end of the innings. “The finishers do have a very difficult role, especially when they just come into bat. They don’t have time to get used to the conditions, so I think that’s why the top order has to play through the innings when they get a start.”
His comments cut little ice because in such a frenetic format, it’s imperative that batsman get into their groove from the first ball. Delhi have South African all-rounder Chris Morris in their ranks, someone who has the potential to finish off matches with his imperious hitting. But he has not quite set the stage on fire. In fact, in his only innings so far, against Punjab, he was run out for a duck going for a risky single.
However, Kaif said that Morris was his team’s X-factor. “We have top four Indian batsmen doing well. We always knew that we needed someone in the middle order to finish the game, so we got Colin Ingram. Chris Morris has been an X-factor for Delhi last couple of years but was run out in the last game,” he quipped.
Delhi have won two matches and lost two so far, and Kaif looked at the positives. “We still sit in a good position. We are definitely disappointed about the last match, which we should have won. But that is the beauty of the IPL, that you cannot take anything for granted,” he added.
