Piyush Chawla reckons Delhi Capitals’ heavy defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru should not trigger alarm bells, even though the 39-run pounding – DC were hustled out for just 75 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium – has left their net run-rate in pieces.
“There will be some panic around for sure, knowing the history of Delhi Capitals. But that’s not the right time [for it] now,” he told ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show the morning after. “They need to sit together, discuss about it, and they have to start fresh – because they started off pretty well in the tournament, and it’s not like in three weeks, the team has changed or the way of playing has changed.”
Key facts first. DC opened the season with two straight victories, suggested they had shaken off last year’s inconsistency, and even posted their highest ever IPL total only 48 hours before the RCB game. Then the wheels came off. Saturday’s collapse was their third-lowest score in the league, and a run of five defeats in six has left them outside the play-off spots.
Dropped chances have not helped. Karun Nair put down Shreyas Iyer twice last weekend, Punjab Kings duly completing the highest successful chase of the campaign. Chawla believes those slips could yet prove costly. “Later, in the business end of the tournament, when they look back at it, those two points will definitely come to haunt them if they are not qualifying [for the playoffs],” he warned.
“So right now is the time [when] they just have to forget everything and move on, start playing some positive cricket, and just make sure there’s a very positive environment in the dressing room because that plays a huge role.”
The leg-spinner, who has seen title runs and bottom-table scraps alike, knows how quickly morale can fray. “When things are not going your way, it’s very, very easy for any team to just scatter and just talk behind the back that this guy would have done this, this guy would have done that, he would have taken that single, this guy would have taken that catch.”
The recent past is a cautionary tale. DC began last season with four straight wins but only three more followed and they finished fifth, one spot outside the knock-outs. Chawla is adamant a slide can be arrested, provided the dressing-room stays tight.
“The most difficult thing [for DC] is to just come together, sit together, and talk about it, and just say, ‘Okay, now that is gone’. These things are not in our control, and still we are in it,” he said. “We are not out of the tournament, and we are the same team who has done well in the past, we have won four-five games on the trot last year as well and still we didn’t qualify. But this year we have to change the history, and just go out there, express yourself, and play with positive intent.”
He added that the issue is not technical. “That’s all you can say because it’s not about the skill level here right now because everyone is very skillful – that’s why they are playing here – it’s just about being positive and the leader needs to take that initiative, and make sure everyone is held together.”
Next up for Delhi is a trip to Jaipur on 1 May to face Rajasthan Royals, who have lost only once so far. It is not quite must-win territory yet, but another defeat would leave the Capitals needing a near-perfect finish. As Chawla implies, that equation becomes harder if heads drop first.
