IPL 2020: Delhi Capitals bowlers lost it in the Powerplay - Shreyas Iyer

The Delhi Capitals captain lauds his team for its runner-up finish in the Indian Premier League.

Shreyas Iyer en route to his unbeaten 65 in the IPL final in Dubai. - BCCI/IPL

Delhi Capitals bowlers “lost it in Powerplay” during Mumbai Indians’ chase of 158 in the Indian Premier League final, captain Shreyas Iyer said after his team’s five-wicket defeat on Tuesday night at the Dubai International Stadium.

Mumbai Indians galloped to 58 for 1 in the first six overs and eventually romped home in the penultimate over of the contest.

“It’s just the fatigue that crept in may be, bowlers just lost it in the Powerplay,” Shreyas said at the post-match press conference.

Shreyas said he did not regret his decision to bat first.

“I thought it was a very good decision [to bat first]. When you enter the final, it’s very important to get off to a good start and that’s what we lacked in this game. Obviously, there was pressure of getting good score in the Powerplay. We had already lost three wickets so it was important that we scored runs and also save wickets at the same time,” he said.

“I think we reached to a very decent total in the Powerplay and after that we capitalised there onwards and got to a decent total until 15th over I guess but after that everything came down.”

'Outstanding'

Shreyas was effusive in his praise for his bowling unit despite an off day in the summit clash.

“Well, they (bowlers) have been outstanding throughout. [Kagiso Rabada] getting the purple cap, setting a great example for all the bowlers in the team. Also [R. ]Ashwin, he has got a great mind and he knows the strategies pretty well. Lot of positives to take from this series and I am really happy with the overall performance in this league. Definitely lot to take away and comeback stronger in the next season,” he said.

30 wickets in #IPL2020
Most wickets for DC in a season
A well deserved Purple cap @KagisoRabada25 did what he does best, consistently, game after game #Dream11IPL#YehHaiNayiDillipic.twitter.com/SebcptvbhS

— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from) (@DelhiCapitals) November 11, 2020

 

Analysing his team’s overall performance this year, Shreyas highlighted some grey areas where he feels the team needs to work on before the next season. “We have been lacking in starts in [the] majority of the games. We have lost pretty early wickets in majority of the games, so that’s an area we need to work on going forward. We also need to strategise our bowling plans because we have leaked a lot of runs in the Powerplay, especially in the second half of the season. It wasn’t the best of the bowling we did,” he said.

“But I am really happy with what we have achieved in the season. Obviously, majority of the things are going to be same in the next season.”