IPL 2018: Why Gambhir failed to turn things around for Delhi Daredevils

Two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams with two striking similarities — empty trophy cabinet, and new captains — were hoping for a good start to IPL 2018. Only one of them managed to achieve it. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) faced Delhi Daredevils (DD) at their home turf in Mohali. Former captain of Kolkata Knight Riders Gautam Gambhir was taken by DD this year in IPL 2018 auctions. KXIP, too, had a new captain in Ravichandran Ashwin.

KXIP won the toss and invited Delhi Daredevils to bat, and thus began a series of mistakes and errors for DD. Hopes were pinned on the newly appointed captain Gautam Gambhir. And he did not disappoint personally -- he struck a half-century. But he did not get the required support from other batsmen. Opener Colin Munro, dismissed cheaply for 4, became the first wicket for the youngest debutant Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

As Gambhir tried to reconstruct the innings, Shreyas Iyer played a couple of extravagant shots and, oozing overconfidence, lofted one high in the air only to be caught easily and sent back to the dug-out. The fate of Vijay Shankar was no different. He came, he scored 13 from 13, and in desperation to accelerate, threw his wicket away. Once again, Gambhir had to switch from the hitting mode to rebuilding.

Punjab's bowling was not as menacing as one would have thought. Indeed it was the poor shot selection of DD batsmen, and their lack of character, that made the scorecard look so modest. A few cameos did not prove very helpful, either. Rishab Pant went hammers and tongs to score a quickfire 28. But when he needed to show some maturity, he failed and threw his wicket away.

Gambhir did all he could, but eventually gave in to the pressure of increasing the run rate and was dismissed for a decent 55 off 42 balls. What really hurt the innings was the inexperience of his teammates. His own dismissal was not ordinary; he got run out and the players that followed him could not do much. Chris Morris made a quick 27 to take the team to a respectable-but-still-difficult-to-defend total of 166-7.