"Unfortunately for Davy, he wasn't able to get through that first over" - Shane Watson laments DC skipper David Warner's dismissal in loss to CSK
Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Shane Watson felt that the early wicket of skipper David Warner played a vital role in the side's 27-run defeat against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Wednesday, May 10.
Chasing a stiff target of 168 set by CSK, Warner punched a back-of-the-length delivery outside off-stump straight to Ajinkya Rahane at covers to be dismissed for a two-ball duck. The early setback proved disastrous as the Capitals never recovered to end up woefully short in their run chase.
After the game, Shane Watson spoke to the Delhi Capitals' official social media handle and admitted that losing Warner in the first over proved detrimental to the run chase.
"Unfortunately for Davy (Warner), he wasn't able to get through that first over, he stated. "He did a really good job against Siraj in the last game but with different conditions against different bowlers, unfortunately, it just wasn't his night. We weren't then able to set enough of another platform with Salt and Marsh unfortunately and just didn't work out tonight."
Watson added:
"Obviously things clicked incredibly well against RCB, everything we have been working towards and working on came together beautifully against RCB and that's why the freedom guys have been showing, that's the way you've got to play in this competition to be able to get your team off to a good start."
In DC's previous encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), David Warner set the tone with two fours in the first three balls in a run-chase of 182 off the bowling of Mohammed Siraj.
His opening partnership with Phil Salt set the platform, enabling DC to coast towards a comfortable seven-wicket win in the 17th over.
Unfortunately, Warner couldn't replicate the same against CSK, as the top order was blown away inside the powerplay.
"The biggest thing is finding the way to be able to execute at your best for longer" - Shane Watson on the road ahead for DC
Shane Watson rued the inability of the Delhi Capitals' batters to execute their plans for longer but remained upbeat as he looked forward to the rest of the tournament.
The defeat put DC on the brink of elimination, having won just four of their 11 games thus far, with three games left.
"We just have to keep working on getting better, we've got to find ways to get better with the ball, majority of the time we were excellent," Watson stated. "From a batting perspective, the biggest thing is finding the way to be able to execute at your best for longer, assess the conditions, and then execute a bit better for longer."
"If we do that like we've done at certain stages throughout the tournament, we're a great chance to be able to set the total we need to or chase down totals as well," he added.
DC had been on a hot streak, winning four of their last five games before the CSK defeat after opening the season with five straight losses. They will now have to win all their remaining matches and depend on other results to go their way to garner hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.
DC will face off against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, May 13.