News
Mon 11 May 2015, 12:00 am
Summary
Performance of youngsters a positive for the team
Although they no longer stand a chance of qualifying for the Playoffs of the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2015, the Delhi Daredevils are keen to win their remaining two matches and finishing the tournament on a high. In their penultimate game of the season, the JP Duminy-led side faceoff against the Chennai Super Kings in Raipur on May 12. DD had begun their season’s campaign with a one-run loss to the former champions in a cliff-hanger in Chennai. Playing for pride, the Daredevils are looking forward to put up another fight against the MS Dhoni-led side, said assistant coach Pravin Amre ahead of practice on Monday, May 11. “In tomorrow’s game we will be playing against CSK. It is one team in the tournament every team wants to do well against, whether you are qualifying or not for the Playoffs,” he stated. “In the first match too we had played really well, but lost by just one run. Regardless of our position in the points table the game against CSK is important; they are a good team. We are team that is in the re-building mode. We have a lot of youngsters in the team and they will be looking forward to performing well in this match,” he added. As they look forward to end the tournament on a good note the Daredevils need to click as a unit. They have had quite a few good individual performances but as a team their performances have been patchy. The batting unit’s inconsistency has also been a factor in the team losing closely-contested matches. “Gary (Kirsten) has addressed that concern in our team meeting. We have to become consistent and that’s the factor why we could not deliver the way we wanted,” Amre said while addressing the media. However, looking at the positives he added, “We are happy with the way Kedar (Jadhav) batted in the last match (against Sunrisers Hyderabad) and also the way Saurabh Tiwary has come up whenever he got the opportunity.” “Obviously when you are not qualifying (for the next round of the tournament) there are many weak points. But there are these particular times where we can see that some of the youngsters are doing well and that can be a big positive for us next year when they can deliver for us, because this experience will help them to play better next year,” he said analysing the team’s run-up to their 13th match of the season. Amongst the youngsters who have put up a good display for the team is Quinton de Kock. In his first game of the season, the South African scored a 31-ball half-century to give DD a fighting chance against SRH in the previous game in Raipur. Asked if he would be playing in remaining matches, Amre said, “Definitely! He is an international player, bats left-handed, which is an advantage, and the way he batted against SRH is a positive. In the one opportunity that he got he came out and performed very well; it shows that he has tremendous talent. And he also gives us a quality wicket-keeping option. With him in the team we are a more balanced team now,” he added. While the youngsters have put up their hand and contributed to the team’s cause, the seniors too have performed in patches. “T20 is such format that sometimes the situation is such that you might not perform. In tomorrow’s match against CSK everyone will want to do well and all the eleven players who will take the field tomorrow will like put up a good performance,” Amre concluded.