Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Mohammad Kaif on Friday (October 1) said that having many quality Indian players with international experience has been a key and huge benefit for the franchise in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
However, ahead of the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) next IPL 14 clash with the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday, October 2 in Sharjah, Kaif admitted that his team’s biggest challenge will be to put runs on the board, but he hopes someone will have a good batting show against the defending champions.
At the moment, DC is ranked second in the IPL 2021 points table with 16 points from eleven matches, and the assistant coach said Delhi may not be giving chances to a few players on the bench as they haven’t yet booked their playoff spot.
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Kaif said during a virtual press conference: “Having quality Indian players in a franchise is the key for any franchise. We are lucky to have some quality Indian players and we are also fortunate to have quite a few Indian players who play international cricket.”
He added, “If there are seven Indian players, who have been playing in the IPL regularly and understand their roles and responsibilities, then that's a huge benefit for any team.”
Kaif further said their main focus will be to put up a good performance with the bat against MI to win the game on Saturday.
The assistant coach further explained, “The key focus for us in the match against Mumbai Indians will be our batting. Whether we bat first or second, we have to bat well. Mumbai is a great team to play against. All the players are always excited to play against Mumbai Indians.
We have performed well collectively this season. Different players are stepping up in different matches and situations. We are lucky to have so many match-winners and hopefully, someone will stand up for the team again in the match against Mumbai.”
On being asked if DC will look to give opportunities to a few players on the bench in the next few matches as the team is now in a good position in the ongoing IPL 14, Kaif said they are in no mood to experiment and will look to field their best playing XI in every match.
He added, “We have not qualified yet. Funny things happen in the IPL and we are very much aware of it. We have to keep getting better as there is always room for improvement. We are sitting at the second spot on the table, but we have to keep working hard. We have to play our best team in every match.”
Kaif signed off by saying on the Sharjah wicket, “The pitch in Sharjah has been a bit more on the slower side this year. However, the players must take up the challenge of batting on difficult pitches, where it's tough to score runs. The team which accepts the challenge of scoring runs on a difficult pitch will win.”
(With PTI Inputs)
