Champions League SRL | Delhi vs Sussex Evaluation Chart - DC self-destruct as Sussex storm to 75-run win

ByAnirudh Suresh, SportsCafe Editor

05/03/2020

Sussex started their SRL campaign in grand fashion as the English side blew a lethargic Delhi out of the park to script a humongous 75-run victory. The Sharks’ charge with the bat was led by Luke Wright, who scored 81, while with the ball, it was the duo of Rashid and Briggs that did the damage.

Match Review

After opting to bowl first, Delhi Capitals were instantly made to regret their decision as the English duo of Phil Salt and Luke Wright took the attack to the bowlers right from the word go, racing off to 80/0 within the first 8 overs. While Delhi hoped that removing Salt would take the spice out of Sussex’s batting, that wasn’t to be the case as both Laurie Evans and Alex Carey came up with valuable contributions to take the Sharks to a gigantic total of 217.

Chasing 218, Delhi got off to an almost-perfect start, going at 11 runs per over in the powerplay, with Jason Roy looking in ominous touch. However, the dismissal of Roy in the 8th over triggered an unbelievable collapse as the Capitals, from thereon, lost 9 wickets for just 68 runs to succumb to an embarrassing 75-run defeat in their very first game of the tournament.

Turning Point

With the score 73/1 off 7 overs, it looked like Delhi were on par to chase down the mammoth target, with both Roy and Dhawan thumping the Sussex bowling right, left and centre, but the dismissal of the former in the 8th over turned the game on its head. Roy’s dismissal triggered a bitter collapse as in the next 10 balls, the Capitals lost all three of Dhawan, Iyer and Pant. There was no coming back from that collapse for the Delhi franchise.

Highs and Lows

Roy’s onslaught against the Proteas a few years ago at the Wankhede in the World T20 shook the opposition team and broke their back, and today, the Englishman was once again at his destructive best in quest of an astronomical target. He smacked 20 runs off Chris Jordan’s first over - which included three fours and a six - and that instilled hope within the Delhi faithful - at least for a brief while.

Delhi boast so much about their ‘young Indian core’, but games like these show you why they have a long way to go and why they’ve been trophyless for 12 years. In a game where they needed everyone to contribute significantly, Delhi’s Holy Trinity of Shaw, Iyer and Pant scored just 15 runs between them and left too much to do for the likes of Roy and Dhawan. Simply not good enough.

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: - Sussex 10/10 and Delhi 9/10

There is no better way to start off a tournament than sending the rest of the teams a message early on by pulverising the bowlers from the very first ball and today, the duo of Salt and Wright did just that. By smacking seven fours within the first six overs, the English duo made the most out of the field restrictions and powered their way to 61/0 at the end of the powerplay. You bet that Rabada is still salty about the beating Phil dished out to him.

The Capitals initially threatened to not make the most out of the field restrictions, but a 20-run over in the fifth ensured that they were right on track to chase down the mammoth target. The damage came predominantly from the bat of Jason Roy, who struck at a strike rate of 190. That the required run rate came down to 10.85 from 10.90 at the end of the sixth over was a testament to their approach and execution.

Middle overs manoeuvring: - Sussex 10/10 and Delhi 2/10

Very rarely do you see a team breaching the 100-run mark in the middle overs, but that was the kind of mood the Sussex batsmen were in, today. The Sharks could have easily slowed down after losing Phil Salt in the 10th over, but Laurie Evans walked in with the sole intention of hitting the ball out of the park and together with Wright, the duo scored 64 runs in just 4.5 overs, between the 10th and the 15th over. Spare a thought for the Delhi bowlers.

One blip is all that’s needed for a team to sensationally come crashing down whilst chasing a 200+ total and unfortunately, that is what happened with Delhi today. While their powerplay yielded 66 runs, the next 9 overs saw them score just 60 runs for the loss of EIGHT WICKETS. They had TWO separate collapses - one between overs 7 and 10 where they lost 4/10 and then one in the 15th over where they lost 3/6 - and that, I suppose, paints a picture in itself.

Death bowling: - Delhi 4/10 and Sussex 7/10

Interestingly, the Delhi bowlers fared much better at the death as compared to the powerplay and the middle overs. That they ended up conceding 53 runs off the last 5 overs is a different story, but that just goes to show you how good the Sussex batsmen were, on the day. Lamichhane bowled an excellent 16th over, where he conceded just 8 runs, but Rabada’s final over, which went for 17, kind of gave Sussex the momentum back in a platter.

One wicket was all Sussex needed to wrap things up, heading into the death overs, yet their bowlers needed 23 deliveries to do that. Now that’s not ‘bad’ by any means, but if you cannot knock Lamichhane and Ishant Sharma over in 23 balls, that either shows that you’re complacent or that your bowlers are not skilled enough. The former, perhaps, given how well they bowled otherwise. Could have been better, nevertheless.

Match Frenzy O Meter - Average

It was a pretty one-sided contest, yes, but the onslaught from the Sussex batters in the first innings kind of made up for the lifeless finish to the game. There was some quality hitting on display - from the bat of Wright, Salt, Carey, Evans and Roy - and that, in my opinion, warrants an ‘average’ rating, rather than a ‘bad’.