“He must have thought its nice upstairs” - Ravi Shastri’s cheeky dig at Sourav Ganguly after DC’s 5th straight loss
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri took a cheeky dig at ex-BCCI president and current Delhi Capitals’ (DC) director of cricket Sourav Ganguly after the latter’s team lost their fifth consecutive match in IPL 2023.
Delhi Capitals went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 23 runs in match number 20 of IPL 2023 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, April 15.
Bowling first after winning the toss, Delhi did reasonably well to restrict RCB to 174/6. Their batting, however, struggled again as DC were held to 151/9.
Shastri was on air as RCB closed in on an impressive victory. Known for his wit and one-liners, the former India all-rounder commented:
“Sourav Ganguly, the former president of the board. He must have thought its nice upstairs!”
Sharing his thoughts on Delhi’s abysmal run, the 60-year-old added that things have been extremely tough for the team since they hit a losing streak. Pointing out that the franchise has a number of people who are not used to losing, Shastri opined:
“Problem now with Delhi Capitals is, especially with the way the other teams are going, you lose four on the trot, it becomes very, very difficult to come back. There are people in that dugout that are not used to losing. Ricky Ponting's one. David Warner too. He's been on the winning side as well.
“It's not about losing. It's about being hammered. It's five on the trot, with you not looking like winning. Losing close games is one thing, when you're being outplayed by opposition, it's not a happy story.”
Chasing 175 against RCB, DC lost half their side for 53 inside nine overs. Manish Pandey (50 off 38) was the only batter to offer some resistance.
“Have to have a hard look at ourselves” - DC skipper David Warner
Reflecting on yet another defeat, Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner lamented that the franchise was poor in the chase, losing too many wickets.
Asserting that the team did well in bowling and fielding, Warner admitted that DC need to do some soul-searching. Speaking at the post-match ceremony, he commented:
“I said at the toss we needed to do all disciplines well, but we lost three early wickets and we didn't chase down what should have been an easy chase. They (RCB) came out and started well with the ball, Siraj was outstanding. The positives were good - bowling and fielding was exceptional, the energy we showed was great too.
“Have to go back, we have five days off, have a hard look at ourselves, we need to do better with the bat and build partnerships at the top of the order. It is a matter of starting well with the bat. Teams have come back well from this position before and we can go on and do better.”
DC will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, April 20.