Delhi Capitals Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao on Saturday admitted that his side must improve its catching after a string of costly lapses led to a defeat despite posting a massive total. Delhi Capitals went down by six wickets to Punjab Kings even after piling up 264 for 2, slumping to their fourth loss of the season. The hosts dropped as many as six catches during the match, handing lifelines to Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer, all of whom capitalised on the reprieves to power Punjab to the highest successful run chase in T20 history with seven balls to spare.
“Yes, I can say that not two, we dropped almost six catches today. See, when you are dropping at a crucial time, I do not think we will win these kinds of matches,” Rao said at the post match press conference.
“Chances to players like Prabhsimran, Priyansh Arya and Shreyas, we need to take those. If we drop catches, we cannot defend.
“The one area we need to improve is catching. Even in the last game against SRH, we dropped Abhishek twice. In this format, you cannot afford that.” Delhi also suffered a blow when pacer Lungi Ngidi injured himself while attempting a catch near the boundary in the third over.
The South African, who has been DC’s standout bowler this season, hit the back of his head on the ground and had to be rushed to hospital, taking no further part in the contest.
His quota of four overs had to be distributed among the other bowlers.
“When we see this kind of scoreboard and miss 24 balls, four overs, it makes a difference. We hope Lungi Ngidi recovers fast and comes back. I cannot comment on more right now,” said Rao.
For Delhi, senior batter KL Rahul led the charge with an unbeaten 152 — the highest score by an Indian in IPL history.
“Credit goes to KL, the way he handled it. Nobody knows how the pitch behaved, but he kept striking the ball well. The way he played till the last over, hats off. He continued his form.
“In this format, you cannot relax. He took responsibility as a senior player and you saw the difference this year in what he can bring. I am happy for him. We could not get the win, but we will come back strong next match,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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