Delhi Daredevils under pressure to win Tuesday game

Bangalore - Smarting with four defeats in a row, Delhi Daredevils (DD) are under tremendous pressure to win Tuesday’s league tie against hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Pepsi IPL-6 T-20 tournament at the Chinnaswamy stadium in this tech hub.

“We are under pressure to win every game we play this week. We have to be competitive as we have three tough games against RCB Tuesday, Chennai Super Kings (April 18 in Delhi) and Mumbai Indians (April 21 in Delhi),” DD coach Eric Simons told reporters at a pre-match press conference after the team had a two-hour practices at the nets in the stadium.

DD lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the tournament’s opening tie in Kolkata by six wickets April 3, to Rajasthan Royals (RR) by five runs in Delhi April 6, to Mumbai Indians by 44 runs in Mumbai April 9 and to Sunrisers Hyderabad by three wickets in Delhi April 12.

Admitting that the team was disappointed to have lost all the first four games, including two narrowly, Simons said it could not be worse than being at the bottom of the table though the morale of the players was good and they were in positive frame of mind.

“The guys got to be positive. They have to work hard for the game tomorrow (Tuesday). We need to come away with two wins at least to get the momentum going. We understand we are under pressure but if we don’t enjoy pressure we shouldn’t be here,” the former South African all-rounder said.

Noting that the absence of three of their top players in the first two-three games cost the team dearly, Simons said it was obvious that those played got into such a losing situation.

“If you take any team, I think top players make a difference. We lost Kevin (Peterson) due to injuries. We didn’t have (Morne) Morkel and (Virender) Sehwag in the first two-three games. When we make a mess it, we get into such situations. We got to be positive to get into the winning habit,” Simons said.

Expressing concern over lack of consistency in batting or bowling, the coach hoped the team’s star batsmen Sehwag and captain Mahela Jayawardene would strike well and build partnerships, as they were in a must-win situation to stay in the tournament.

“It’s going to be a must-win for us against RCB. We will select the best after a final look at the wicket. Though we have enough pacers in Morkel, (Yusuf) Pathan and (Umesh) Yadav, we got to choose between Johan Botha, Jeevan Mendis and Roelof Van Der Merwe for the spinner’s slot,” he added.