Delhi Capitals had a start-stop IPL 2024, and by the time they reached the business end of the Tournament, they left too late for that final push for the IPL 2024 playoff spot, eventually ending 6th on the points table, but missing the top-4 spot only by a whisker. In their campaign, they failed to string together more than two wins in a row, and while there were flashes of brilliance from the batters, lack of consistency and firing as a complete unit came to bite them back. Rishabh Pant’s return was the most significant positive for the team, so was the late injection of Jake Fraser-McGurk, but underwhelming performances from the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje and other bowlers meant DC could not build momentum through the season.
IPL 2024 – Played: 14; Won: 7; Lost: 7; Standing: 6th After League Stage
High point of the Tournament
As mentioned above, DC won two games in a row only twice. In that rare sequence, one of those wins came against Gujarat Titans, in which the DC bowlers stood put demolishing a perfect batting attack, bundling them to a mere 89 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, and then subsequently went on to gun down the target in under ten overs. Ishant Sharma’s 2/8, Mukesh Kumar’s 3/14 and 2/11 from part-timer Tristian Stubbs set the base for the batters, but DC eventually lost four wickets. The other high point was the game against Mumbai Indians at home, in which they racked up 257/4 – astonishingly only the 8th-highest team total in IPL 2024. Still, that match showed the potential the DC batting unit had, with Jake Fraser-McGurk leading the assault with a 27-ball 84 while the finishing touches were added by Shai Hope (17-ball 41) and the uber-talented Stubbs (25-ball 48). However, even in that win, the bowlers were found wanting to give away 247, as DC eventually won the contest by a mere ten runs.
Delhi Capitals’ ‘X-factor’ Jake Fraser-McGurk Lights up IPL 2024
Low point of the Tournament
The low point of DC’s campaign this season had to be the first two weeks of IPL 2024, where they managed only one win from their five games, and that had them playing catch for the remainder of the season. Sandwiches between losses to PBKS, RR KKR and MI was a win against CSK. The KKR loss by 106 runs hit them the hardest as after being ragged down by KKT, who went on to post 272/7, DC could only muster 166, thanks mainly to Pant and Stubbs’s half-centuries. The waning form of David Warner and misfiring Parthiv Shaw meant DC kept shuffling their batting order.
LSG IPL 2024 Team Review: KL Rahul-Sanjiv Goenka’s On-field ‘Talk’ Highlights Season of What Ifs
Captaincy verdict
Pant, the player, returned in a grand manner, but Pant, the skipper, seemed to lack ideas. Unlike his counterparts, for instance, Sanju Samson at RR and Shreyas Iyer at KKR, the Delhi wicketkeeper-batter could not inspire his team to reverse its fortunes. He seemed too reliant on the coaching staff to make strategic decisions, which unfortunately did not work out for the team.
Most valuable player
Even though Pant finished the season as DC’s highest run-getter with 446 runs in 13 matches, striking at 155.40, once Jake Fraser-McGurk came in as the replacement for Harry Brook, he set the IPL 2024 on fire, scoring 330 runs in a mere nine matches with a scarcely believable strike-rate of 234.04 with four fifties to his name. Comes the IPL 2025 mega auction – DC would most likely retain the young Australian, even as they may be forced to let go of some big names.
RCB IPL 2024 Team Review: RCB Show Promise and Mettle, But falter at Familiar Hurdle Again
Major disappointment
You could add three names from the DC team to this category, and David Warner would be the first. The IPL behemoth, synonymous with consistency in this format and in this league, looked like a pale shadow of his former self. Such was the poor form of the veteran Australian that DC was forced to bench him after playing eight matches, in which his returns were 168 runs, striking at 134.40. The second major disappointment was the tearaway pacer Nortje, who was linked all over the park in almost every game he played. But more than the batters playing good shots against him, the Protea pacer failed to adapt to the conditions and altered his line and length. In the six matches he played, he leaked runs at 13.36, returning with only seven wickets. The third would be Axar Patel, who had, to be fair, an underwhelming season both with the bat and ball. DC’s standout performer last year in Pant’s absence, Patel, had an average season with the ball, by his high standards, even with the bat, where he was one of the top performers.
Tournament Verdict
A season that started on a sour note, DC did have their moments but failed to sustain the momentum and injury to Mitchell Marsh and the unavailability of Harry Brook put a spanner in their works. By the time the business end of the Tournament neared, DC once again faltered in key matches to let go of the opportunity to make the IPL 2024 Playoffs.
Statistics
Most runs: Rishabh Pant – 446 runs in 13 matches
Most wickets: Mukesh Kumar & Khaleel Ahmed – 17 wickets each in 10 and 14 matches, respectively
Highest individual score: Rishabh Pant – 88* vs Gujarat Titans
Best Bowling Figures: Kuldeep Yadav – 4/55 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Stay updated with the latest from T20 World Cup 2024, including T20 World Cup 2024 Schedule and updated list of Highest-run getters In T20 World Cup 2024 and Highest wicket-takers. Explore T20 World Cup Match Today. Check T20 World Cup 2024 Points Table and players with the Most Sixes, Most Fours , Most Fifties And Most HundredsIn T20 World Cup 2024.
Comments
0 comment