Even though Delhi Capitals (DC) emerged victorious in the match No.64 of IPL 2023 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Dharamshala, their sloppy fielding and reckless attitude left the DC’s head coach, Ricky Ponting, in disbelief.
The DC spinner Kuldeep Yadav had to go through the same kind of emotion when in the 8th over of the match, fielder Anrich Nortje dropped a simple catch of Punjab’s batter Liam Livingstone, who ended up scoring 94 runs in 48 balls, on Kuldeep’s bowling.
The delivery was tossed up, and Liam looked to play an aerial shot, creating a golden chance for Nortje to grab the ball, but he failed to hold it. Kuldeep was frustrated with the dropped catch and screamed in the loudest way, possible.
But it was just the beginning of unfortunate events destined to happen yesterday night on the field. In the 10th over of the match, Kuldeep came under the firing range when Yash Dhull dropped the sitter and gave the batter Atharva Taide a chance to bat for a little longer. An emotion of disbelief could also be seen on the faces of DC’s support staff, including coach Ponting, who was sitting in the dugout.
The two-drop catches were not the only mistakes the DC’s fielders committed in the match. The list of blunders kept on adding when the fielders also missed a couple of easy run-out opportunities served to them on the plate, but they considered dropping the dish better.
The good thing was that their mistakes never returned to haunt them and they went on to win the game by 15 runs to jump to the No. 9 position in the IPL 2023 points table.
Nortje admitted in the post-match presentation that the poor fielding made it difficult for Kuldeep, who remained wicketless despite being the most impressive bowler for the Capitals.
“I must say Kuldeep was our best bowler today. We made it difficult for him by dropping those many,” Nortje said.
Delhi Capitals will play their last match on May 20 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi.
