Delhi Capitals (DC) endured a dismal Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign. The David Warner-led side won only five out of their 14 league matches to finish ninth in the 10-team standings.

Reflecting on their performance, batting legend Gavaskar said that the Capitals were stubborn in not promoting Akshar Patel up the batting order despite him being in good form.

Akshar aggregated 282 runs and picked up 11 wickets for DC in IPL 2023 season.

"There was the stubborn, almost defiant refusal to promote the in-form Akshar Patel up the batting order. It prompted Ravi Shastri, who had coached the Indian team until last year and seen the batting ability that Akshar has, to question if there was something in the contract that said Patel wouldn’t bat above number 7 in the batting order,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Prithvi Shaw’s listless performance was the biggest letdown for Delhi Capitals this season. The young opener has had a terrible start to the IPL 16 season, registering scores of 12, 7, 0, 15, 0 and 13 in six matches. As a result, he was dropped from the playing XI.

After DC were knocked out of the tournament, Shaw got a couple more opportunities and he returned with scores of 54 and 5.

Commenting on Shaw, Gavaskar said he has not been able to come to terms with deliveries around his ribcage.

"Prithvi Shaw has also not been able to come to terms with the delivery around the ribcage, and the result has been a shortage of runs from some of the most promising and prolific young players in the country,” he stated.

Sunil Gavaskar also opined that the language barrier is holding some young Indian players back in the IPL.

“Often, the language is a barrier for a young, budding Indian player who comes from the interiors and may not be conversant in English to understand. That probably explains why players like Yash Dhull, Priyam Garg, and Sarfaraz Khan, to name just three, have made little or no progress,” said Gavaskar.