IPL 2019: I Needed A Little Support: Shreyas Iyer

After a promising star to the season,  Delhi Capitals’ season has started showing the signs of their dismal campaigns in recent years. The Shreyas Iyer led-side beat heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in their first three games but have looked clueless since then. Against Kings XI Punjab, they lost 7 wickets for just 8 runs to lose by 14 runs while chasing 167. On Thursday, they came up with another poor batting display against Sunrisers Hyderabad to lose by 5 wickets and suffer their third in five games this season.

Asked to bat first,  Delhi Capitals’ exciting batting lineup came a cropper against the formidable attack of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Shreyas Iyer-led side could manage to score just 129 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. Asked to bat first, Delhi never looked like putting up a good total. They lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually restricted to a paltry total. Prithvi Shaw started off well by hitting two boundaries before Bhuvneshwar Kumar castled him with a beauty.

Innings Break!

Clinical bowling from @SunRisers as they restrict the Delhi Capitals to a total of 129/8 in 20 overs.

Scorecard – https://t.co/eCgmofbt5n #DCvSRH pic.twitter.com/lWNnGRYBEJ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 4, 2019

Shikhar Dhawan’s lean patch continued as he too departed cheaply, leaving Delhi Capitals reeling at 36 for 2. Captain Shreyas Iyer held firm from one end, scoring 43 but found little support from the other end. Rishabh Pant, Rahul Tewatia and Colin Ingram all departed after scoring 5 each as Delhi found themselves reeling at 75 for 5 in the fourteenth over. Chris Morris (17) and Axar Patel (23*) then came up with handy cameos to guide Delhi to a respectable total.

In reply, the Sunrisers chased down the total with 9 balls remaining and five wickets in hand.

Speaking after the game, a disappointed Shreyas Iyer said that the game was ‘another learning’ for his side and rued lack of support from others while batting.

“The last two games have been the same (disappointing). It was a tough wicket to bat on and since they bowled first, they had an idea about how to go about it. We didn’t play that well as a batting side. Another learning – we should come back positive and strong. After the first time out, I thought 140-150 would have been a good score, especially with three spinners playing. Unfortunately we lost too many wickets and we could not capitalise,” Shreyas Iyer said.

That's that from Delhi as the @SunRisers win by 5 wickets ??#VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/pNKcVxwZkv

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 4, 2019

“I needed a little support over there because one of the top four batsmen had to be there, I had taken the responsibility but unfortunately I took on Rashid and got out as well. We had almost lost the game after the first few overs, but the way we came back should be appreciated. The bowlers are mentally strong at the moment. That is really good to see from a captain’s point of view,” he added.