Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel shares a light moment with Chennai Super Kings’ Kartik Sharma and Sanju Samson (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) NEW DELHI: There are very few sports teams that look as out of place at home as the Delhi Capitals at the Ferozeshah Kotla. For the second game in a row here, the Capitals put their shaky and inept batting on display and posted 155/7 for Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday night to catch up by eight wickets and 15 balls. It is not for nothing that the local crowd constantly supports the visiting teams. The stadium turned yellow in favor of CSK despite MS Dhoni not even traveling for the match. The deafening roar after every goal must have been intimidating for Delhi Capitals. That doesn’t help when you’re playing for tournament survival. At the end of the day, CSK’s bowling and Sanju Samson’s assured innings of an unbeaten 87 off 52 offered a lesson in playing on a relatively slow surface. This is why CSK are still breathing in this tournament while Capitals are pushed to the brink now.
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Debut in India: Calls are getting louderCSK applied a choke with left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, who opened the bowling and returned figures of 1/19 from his four overs. Batting with utmost composure and clarity, Samson anchored the chase and trotted it into civility. This is again a reflection of his growing status as a senior batsman, helping rookie Kartik Sharma pace the innings with little pressure to score 41 off 31 balls. An unbeaten partnership of 114 runs is a stark commentary on Capital’s leading batsmen KL Rahul and Axar Patel’s inability to step up in conditions that further challenge your tenacity. The poor bowling of Kuldeep Yadav, who conceded 34 runs from his three overs on a useful pitch, put another dent in his reputation. Rahul, as has been his case on a slightly tricky surface, played a calm powerplay that took the Capitals to 37/1. The defeat of Hosein was almost a sign of resignation from Rahul as he departed for 12 off 13 in the sixth over. Captain Axar Patel’s struggles seem endless. Tuesday’s action could have been a welcome break from the heady scoring trend in the IPL. But it also demonstrated the inability of the modern batsman to find a middle ground when the conditions give the bowlers something to work with. Twice in as many games here, the Capitals have been forced to exhaust their Impact Player in the first inning of a game. If it was Abhishek Porel who got to bat at No. 7 in the Powerplay against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last week, it was Sameer Rizvia’s turn to bring some gravitas at 69/5. But it also meant the Capitals couldn’t use their third spinner on a relatively slow track to defend the score in the second half of the match. It is now established that Rizvi is most comfortable playing calm strokes in situations that do not require a high scoring rate. And he stuck to his game plan – an extremely cautious start to the innings and then success at the back end to finish with an unbeaten 40 off 24 balls.
