It has been a season to forget so far for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023. While every other team has tasted at least a win already in the competition, Delhi are yet to get off the mark on the points table and have lost five back-to-back matches in row. On Saturday, the team had a great chance to get their first win under their belt but couldn't take their chances in their match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnswamy Stadium.
After opting to bowl first, DC had restricted Bangalore to less than 180 which seemed a gettable target given the nature of the surface. However, Delhi got off to a nightmarish start with Prithvi Shaw getting run out in the first over and were soon 4 down inside the powerplay. The team never really recovered from start and only with the help of Manish Pandey's 50 off 38 balls and contributions from Axar Patel and Anrich Nortje did they get to the 151/9, needing 175 to win.
Post the defeat, former captain of the Delhi franchise Virender Sehwag minced no words in criticism of the team and their head coach Ricky Ponting.
“I think I said before that Punjab have passed on the axe to Delhi, so now the axe has reached Delhi. When a team losses, the coaches are credited, so when the team losses, they should be held responsible. Even we said so many times that Ponting has done a brilliant job, took them to the finals, they now reach the playoffs almost every year now. He took all those credits, now he has to take this credit as well. This is not the Indian team where they take credit for the wins and for the losses someone else is blamed," Sehwag said in conversation with Cricbuzz.
"There is zero role of a coach in an IPL team. The big responsibility is man-management and to give the players that confidence, but in the end, a coach looks good only when the team performs well which Delhi haven't done it at all. I feel Delhi has reached that point where they are confused what should they do to change their fortune,” he added.
With no wins to show against their name aftr 5 matches, DC remain at the bottom of the IPL 2023 points table.