After suffering a crushing 88-run defeat at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Delhi Capitals (DC) coach Ricky Ponting acknowledged that chasing is an area of concern for his side and it needs to hit the "reset" button to clinch an IPL playoff spot in the remaining two league games.
See Also: "We lost the game in the powerplay itself," admits Shreyas Iyer after defeat to SRH
Chasing 220 to win, DC got bowled out for a mere 131 in 19 overs against SRH. It was a listless batting display from the Capitals as none of them in the line-up managed to touch the 40-run mark. Rishabh Pant was the top-scorer with 35-ball 36.
It was Delhi’s third successive loss and they have now slipped to the third spot in the points table.
"It's been a concern. When we decide to bowl first, we've given away big totals. We have to get better at that, we need to be better at bowling first and at chasing totals because so far, it hasn't worked for us," Ponting said in the post-match press conference.
DC now will have to come up with stellar performances against table-toppers Mumbai Indians and second-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last two games to seal their playoff berth.
"We had a rough idea from the start of the game on how many points one might need to qualify. We got to seven wins quite quickly, and now lost three in a row. We have to reset right now.
"We play MI next and RCB in the last match and if we keep playing the way we are, we will find it hard to win those games. So we have to change things and change them quickly," Ponting remarked.
The DC coach conceded that his team has failed to bounce back whenever they have given an advantage to the opponents.
"As it has happened quite a few times in the tournament so far, when the teams have got on top of us, we've found it hard to drag it back. Today was a great example of that," Ponting said.
"We've got some work to do on our all-round game. Out-fielding has been a bit sloppy and our batsmen have struggled to find any sort of rhythm."
In the chase against Sunrisers, DC had promoted Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer up the order ahead of skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Justifying the decision, Ponting said the idea was to match SRH's score of 77 in the powerplay.
"Chasing 220, with Rahane and Shikhar at the top, we thought if we lost an early wicket, we would have to match them (SRH) in the powerplay and get to 65 or 70," the former Australian captain said.
"Stoinis has been in sensational form so far, he was dying for an opportunity at the top-order. It didn't come off today but it was all circumstantial because we were chasing such a big total. It was a bit of experimentation."
(With PTI inputs)
