DC vs SRH: Sunil Gavaskar makes special request to Rishabh Pant as DC captain reveals reason behind SRH hammering

Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) were up against the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 35th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Saturday, April 20, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Delhi Capitals entered the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad with a head-to-head record of 11 wins and 12 losses out of 23 matches played between the teams. Although SRH led the head-to-head record with 12 wins in their bag, in the last few years the Delhi Capitals (DC) dominated the Orange Army with their performance.

Out of the last six matches between the teams, DC had won five and in the last 10 matches, they won seven with SRH winning just 3. In the previous encounter between the teams before the Indian Premier League 2024 clash, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by 9 runs in the 40th match of IPL 2023 on April 29. Batting first, SRH posted 197/6 on the board and restricted DC to 188/6 in their 20 overs to emerge victorious.

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Talking about their IPL 2024 clash, Delhi Capitals elected to bowl first after winning the toss and they were horrible in the powerplay. SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma made a mockery of the DC bowling unit and blasted 125 runs in the powerplay.

Travis and Sharma were dismissed for 89 and 46 as Kuldeep Yadav helped DC make a small comeback in the match with his exceptional bowling. However, Shahbaz Ahmed smashed a quickfire 59 runs as SRH posted a huge 266/7 on the board. For DC, Kuldeep Yadav bagged 4 wickets while Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar got one wicket each.

Chasing the target, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel played sensational innings after the failure of Prithvi Shaw and David Warner. However, they were unable to bat deep and in the end, Rishabh Pant looked sluggish as DC were bundled out for 199 in 19.1 overs to lose the match by 67 runs. For SRH, T Natarajan bagged 4 wickets while Nitish Reddy and Mayank Markande picked two wickets each.

The powerplay was the difference - Rishabh Pant

Speaking to commentators after the match, the Delhi Capitals captain looked quite dejected that was when Sunil Gavaskar told Rishabh Pant to keep a smile on his face and the latter promised the batting great to do his best.

Sunil Gavaskar said, "I never want your head down, there are lots of games so keep a smile always". Pant replied, "I will try my best, sir".

Rishabh Pant also said that they opted to bowl first keeping in mind the dew factor in the second innings. Rishabh Pant said:

"I think the only thought process behind it was there could be dew which didn't come (on choosing to bowl first), but we would still have had a chance had we restricted them to 220-230."

Rishabh Pant admitted that the Delhi Capitals leaking record-breaking runs in the powerplay was the difference in the match and that was the reason behind their defeat.

"The powerplay was the difference, they got (125) runs and we ended up playing catching up after that. The ball stopped more in the 2nd innings, that was more than we anticipated, but when we needed to chase 260, 270, you'll need to keep scoring."

Rishabh Pant further hoped for a better performance from his team in the next matches and lavished rich praise on young Jake Fraser-McGurk for his heroics. Rishabh Pant said:

"Hopefully, we'll come up with more thought process and a clear mindset going forward. His batting has been phenomenal (on Fraser-McGurk), he's been nice for us, that's what we need to do as a team, be together, look at areas where we can improve going into the next game."