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Delhi Capitals’ (DC) Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly compared the franchise’s maiden win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season to getting his first run in Test cricket.
After five consecutive losses, DC got their first points on the board by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets in a low-scoring thriller at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, April 20.
Bowling first after winning the toss, Delhi bowled Kolkata out for 127. They stumbled in the chase despite skipper David Warner’s 57 off 41 balls, but got home in 19.2 overs.
Sharing his thoughts after Delhi Capitals’ first win in IPL 2023, a relieved Ganguly said in an interview posted on iplt20.com:
“We are happy to get off the mark. I was sitting there in the dugout and thinking it was like getting my first Test run 25 years ago. You’ve seen a cricket match and I think we were on the luckier side today [Thursday].”
Asked if he felt this was Delhi’s best bowling performance so far this season, Ganguly replied that the bowlers have been doing their job, adding it’s the batting that’s been the problem. He stated:
“We bowled well before as well this season. Even the game before, at Bangalore, to restrict (RCB) them to 170, I thought we did well. Against Mumbai also, we defended well. So the bowling has been good. These are good pitches, fast outfields, so it’s hard on the bowlers. But the problem is the batting. We need to go back and look at ourselves and see how we can bat better.
“The bowling was exceptional. The spinners bowled well. The quicks bowled well. [Anrich] Nortje has outstanding for us. Good to see Mukesh [Kumar] and Ishant [Sharma] turn up and do well with the ball.”
Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav all claimed two wickets each in Delhi’s win over KKR.
“They know it’s time to put up a better performance” - Ganguly on DC’s batters
Chasing 128, Delhi slipped from 61/1 to 111/6. Eventually, a cameo from Axar (19* off 22) took them home in an unconvincing fashion. Reflecting on the batting, Ganguly admitted that a lot of work needs to be done.
The former India captain commented:
“We have a lot of work to do. I wouldn’t say it’s an inexperienced batting line-up. But, we’re not playing well because most of these guys have played lot of T20 cricket. It’s probably time to look and find a way to bat better.
“We work hard with the boys. Be it Prithvi [Shaw], Manish [Pandey], Mitch Marsh. They have been important players and around for a while for their respective teams. They also know that it’s time to put up a better batting performance.”
Shaw was dismissed for 13 against Kolkata, while Marsh made two. Pandey contributed 21 but fell with the target still a few runs away.
