It may sound harsh but the Delhi Daredevils
may be the new chokers. If South Africa have been labeled the chokers in the
international cricket parlance then Delhi too deserve their tag when it comes
to State/franchise/county cricket.
Analyzing Delhi’s performances in
the first 5 years of Indian premier league (IPL), in four out of the five years
there are instances of choking. In the first year Delhi lost to the eventual
winners Rajasthan Royals and on that occasion they were well beaten. In the
second edition held in South Africa after having topped the group and played
extremely well Delhi went down to the now defunct franchise Deccan Chargers. Although
to be fair Adam Gilchrist was on fire that night and would have tamed anyone. Again in the third year Delhi went down to Deccan
Chargers in a do or die match which was to decide who would make it to the semifinals,
to make matters worse this was at Ferozshah Kotla. Earlier this year after
having again topped the table after 16 games Delhi again displayed nerves and
dished up two awful performances against both Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai
Super Kings in the eliminator.
The syndrome has now spread to the
champions league T20 with Delhi going down to the Highveld Lions where they
were clearly the favorites and that too with such a limp and same old mistakes.
It’s one thing choking at national
level but it is totally different at the franchise level. We have seen in
different sports where the owners have little patience and if results don’t go
the team’s way the heads could roll. Especially in case of Delhi, especially
this year with so much money being spent on likes of Kevin Pietersen and Mahela
Jayawardena.
Being a Delhi boy through and
through my allegiances lie totally with the daredevils but the results lie in
front of us and we cannot ignore these. In my opinion Delhi are the new chokers
of the T20 game and there is no harm (a little shame) in admitting that. It is
only after admitting and identifying the problem that we can look to find a
solution. Let’s hope for Delhi’s sake we do it. Sooner the better.
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