Once Rajasthan Royals punished some shoddy bowling and fielding efforts by Delhi Daredevils and posted a formidable target of 190, the writing on the wall was clear for the latter in the first IPL-8 match played at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.
It was the ninth instance of a team posting a score upwards of 185 in the ongoing league and all the teams that did so went on to win the matches.
The Daredevils captain Jean-Paul Duminy admitted that though the deficit in the end turned out to be 14 runs, it was actually far from it. His reply to, when asked, if the target of 190 was stiff, he said: I didn’t think so. I thought if we had stuck to our plans as a batting unit, we would have got pretty close. We fell 14 runs short, which seems quite close, but is actually quite far in the context of the game.’’
The small-built South African felt his team was below par against a very highly competitive team. “I didn’t think we bowled particularly well; I thought we also let ourselves down in the field. It wasn’t just the dropped catches, I just thought our body language and intensity wasn’t there and that’s something we’re going to have to address going into our next game.
“We seem to be blowing hot and cold, and if we want to give ourselves a chance in this tournament, we’ve got to find some sort of consistency. We’ve still got an opportunity with five games to go, and we need to win at least four out those five to give ourselves a chance at qualifying.’’
Duminy said he was not surprised by Karun Nair being sent to bat at No. 3. “He played superbly. I wasn’t surprised that he batted No.3, we always knew he was going to be in their top order. He’s an exciting prospect for Indian cricket. They played some good shots and we also dropped a few catches which cost us. “There are a few factors we need to look at I still believe Yuvraj Singh as a player; at the end of the day he’s a match-winner. I still believe he’s going to come good in this tournament. As a squad and franchise, we back him to do that for us. Yes it hasn’t gone to plan in till now, but I still believe something good is going to come from him.’’
