Faf du Plessis, filling in for Axar Patel as Delhi Capitals (DC) captain, remained supportive of his side despite their crushing 59-run defeat to Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday (May 21).
This loss marked the end of DC’s playoff hopes, while MI joined Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Punjab Kings in the last-four stage.
Riding on Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten 73 off 43 balls, MI racked up 180/5 on the board. In reply, DC’s innings folded for 121 in 18.2 overs as Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner returned wickets each.
Speaking on the team's performance at the post-match presentation, Du Plessis said, "We were excellent today in the field. The guys showed great fight. The bowlers pitched up, obviously not the easiest pitch to bat on, probably made the bowlers' job a little bit easier. But still, it's a very strong batting line-up and I thought we were excellent and then just let it slip there in the last 2 overs. Momentum is a real thing in cricket, the way that they counter-punched to get almost 50 in the last 2 overs, all the hard work that we did for 17-18 overs ... lost that momentum."
Furthermore, Du Plessis praised young uncapped Indian batter Sameer Rizvi's mindset during the chase where he scored 39 runs with the help of six fours and a six on a difficult pitch.
"Rizvi today showed some signs, he's got some talent there. When you're playing against a powerful team like this, you need to be at your best all the time and unfortunately for 17-18 overs we were and then the last two overs we were pretty average, With the bat, you need a good start on a surface like that and we didn't get going at all with the bat. Sums up pretty much our season, we've been cold in either batting or bowling in the last 6 or 7 games," he added.
In the end, Faf du Plessis acknowledged that the absence of regular skipper Axar Patel (ill) and left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc (opted out) hurt their chances.
"If you look at the way that Mitch Santner bowled, they are very similar bowlers. To bowl four overs, I think he went for around 10 runs. Axar is that kind of class bowler, an internationally proven left-arm spinner. On a wicket like that, he would have loved to bowl. Unfortunately, he was very sick the last two days. Starc is a fantastic bowler, but especially the spinner on a wicket like that is worth gold. Momentum - I am a big believer that you have to make sure that you never take it for granted. When you are on top of the wave, you've got to make sure you don't lose it as quickly," he concluded.
(With ANI Inputs)
