Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Shreyas Iyer was delighted after his team's near-faultless day and the victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai this Friday (September 25) in Match 7 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
Batting first, DC put on 175/3 in their allotted 20 overs, with openers Prithvi Shaw (64) and Shikhar Dhawan (35) giving the team a solid start and No.3 Rishabh Pant (35*) playing another very fine knock.
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In the second half, the team pulled off a collectively brilliant performance, restricting CSK to just 131/7. Spinners Axar Patel (1/18), Amit Mishra (0/23) went really economical, put CSK batsmen under extreme pressure while pacers Kagiso Rabada (3/26) and Anrich Nortje (2/21) were also excellent at different stages of the innings.
There were a few drop catches, but all in all, it was kind of performance that would've certainly raised the hopes of Delhi's fans.
"I am really happy with the performance. I would give them the benefit of doubt, which is tough to catch in these conditions. You misjudge the ball, really don't know how to pace yourself," Iyer, who himself contributed 26 runs in the first half, said at the post-match presentation ceremony, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Iyer said assessing the conditions early made a huge difference in the end for his team.
"In the team meeting, we decided that we are going to assess the batting conditions early and then play accordingly," he said. "The way the openers started gave us a lot of confidence and the finish was good too."
"I am lucky to have KG and Nortje in the team. It's important to stick together as a team and we need to enjoy each other's success."
Shaw, having played the stand-out innings on the day, was given the 'Player-of-the-Match' award. He stressed on the point raised by his skipper and said adjustment was key as he went about constructing his innings.
"In the start you have to see how the wicket is, playing along the ground is more important. I was striking the ball well last year as well, but I was making silly mistakes. This time I decided to play more ground shots."
"I would like to see the highlights of my knock and understand how it went and what I could do. The wicket was nice to bat on," he said.
The win made it two in two for DC, who had earlier defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) narrowly and next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Tuesday (September 29) in Abu Dhabi.
