IPL 2020 | Delhi failed to capitalize on ground dimensions by not running twos, admits Shreyas Iyer

After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals were made to toil hard on the field by Sunrisers’ opening pairing of Warner and Bairstow, who utilized the ground dimensions to its fullest extent by converting 1s into 2s and 2s into 3s. Despite hitting only two fours in the powerplay on a two-paced wicket, the duo kept the scoreboard ticking by running hard between the wickets and their hard-work paid dividends as SRH ended with a total of 162/4.

In response, however, the Delhi batsmen failed to do the same and relied on boundaries, something that came back to haunt them towards the end. The inability to clear the boundaries, coupled with the batsmen not running hard, hurt Delhi and they, as a result, slumped to a 15-run defeat. Speaking post match, skipper Shreyas Iyer loathed his side not running hard enough, but admitted that DC were outplayed by a hungry SRH on a two-paced wicket.

“The ground is very big and we didn't capitalize on taking doubles. We knew boundaries are big here and doubles will be key for us, It didn't work out for us, hopefully next time we can maximize the opportunities,” Iyer said post-match.

“We were pretty much happy with 162, it was a par score on this wicket. We had no idea how this wicket would behave as this is our first game here. They outplayed us in all three departments and credit to them for that. It was surprising and in the second innings, it (pitch) was two-paced. When I went in, the ball wasn't coming onto the bat. We thought dew would come on but we can't give any reasons at this moment. We didn't execute the way we wanted to. Lot of learnings from this wicket and conditions.”

The result means that all eight sides have at least one win each, perfectly setting up the upcoming weeks of the tournament. Delhi now have a three-day break, after which they will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the ever-so-entertaining Sharjah Cricket Stadium.