Death bowling is letting down Delhi Daredevils

After Delhi Daredevils’ defeat in their last game against Chennai Super Kings, a number of justifications were put forward by DD captain Kevin Pietersen in the presentation ceremony but he failed to identify the root cause. Simply put, DD couldn’t defend a competitive score put up by their batsmen. They were not helped by the pitch at the grand old Feroz Shah Kotla, which more than others can determine a bowlers’ fate. What would be a winning total on other grounds is often a part score at the Kotla, though still defendable with good bowling, something DD has failed to exhibit on a regular basis. [caption id=“attachment_1512905” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mohammed Shami has struggled at the death. BCCI[/caption] How many games has Delhi lost after good performances in the first half? Four. How many games have Delhi won which looked like a lost cause at half time? One. This has been the difference this year. Delhi has lost more games from winning positions mainly due to under-performance in death bowling and this has had a negative impact on the players. Bowling with a wet ball hampered Delhi to a degree, but after posting a competitive score, there should have been more intent from their pacers, especially Mohammed Shami, who looks out of sorts and lacking tactics to tackle the growing creed of destructive batsmen. Gary Kirsten meanwhile has been successful as a coach because he lets the team take control situations and find their own personality, Although, this strategy worked wonders with India and South Africa, it has not yet clicked for DD, perhaps because of the short time frame in which he has been asked to produce results and with an incomplete set of support staff. The poor death bowling has haunted DD and not utilizing JP Duminy effectively has left the team in a cavernous hole. Persistence with fast bowling throughout the light drizzle helped CSK to catch up with the run-rate and the match slowly slipped from DD’s grasp. Dwayne Smith and Brendan McCullum put on their fourth fifty-run partnership in seven games and this was one of the crucial threads in their impeccable chase here in Delhi. The cruel hitting by Smith was all instinct and he might just overpower Maxwell in terms of consistency in his batting. Richie Bernaud once said in a lighter vein that the true hallmark of a great captain is the ability to win the toss at the right time. KP has not won a toss yet this season but bad luck is the least of DD’s worries. More concerning is CSK’s 80 per cent win record at Kotla, proving that it is more of their adopted bastion than a Daredevils fortress. Instead DD have one of the worst win percentages among other teams on their home ground.