Delhi Capitals batter Prithvi Shaw walks off the field after he was dismissed during the IPL 2023 match between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on April 4, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan’s struggles against a high-quality pace attack have been the talking point in Delhi Capitals’ heavy losses so far, but bowling coach Ajit Agarkar finds it unfair to be singled out any player when the failure is a collective.
Lucknow Super Giants beat DC by 50 runs in their first game before Gujarat Titans on Tuesday cruised home comfortably by six wickets with 11 balls to spare.
In the same game, the two Mumbaikars, who have been prolific batters at the domestic level, seemed to struggle against the likes of Mark Wood (LSG), Mohammed Shami and Alzarri Joseph (GT), all of whom could bowl at 145 plus clicks , and get movement and bounce at great speed.
“I mean they (Shaw and Sarfaraz) got runs against the fast bowling. I don’t think we bowled well so why point to one or two guys,” Agarkar said.
For Agarkar, the entire top order has to step up.
“None of our top players have really been in the same game. We haven’t had the big runs at the top that some of the other teams have had.”
After getting tangled against Wood’s short ball in the first game, Sarfaraz was hit on the head by Alzarri and the umpires called for a concussion check as he struggled to reach 30 off 33 balls.
“No point picking individually, collectively we haven’t been good on both nights and we need to improve as we are playing against some good teams. So much of credit to Gujarat but we need to bat collectively as a unit to get results,” he reasoned.
Asked if the problem was due to the standard of bowling these two faced at the domestic level with an average speed of 130 to 132 kmph, Agarkar reminded that Shaw had a Test hundred on debut.
“We are talking about Prithvi Shaw who got a Test hundred on debut. He is not playing IPL for the first time. So again why pick people?
“When you lose, it’s not because of one or two people. I think you have to accept collective effort hasn’t been good tonight (Tuesday) and you have to accept it. We have got personnel to do it. We just need to apply ourselves better,” he said.
Agarkar insisted that Sarfaraz’s runs in domestic cricket cannot be viewed in isolation.
“We are talking about two people who have scored heaps of runs. There is no doubt that the standard is different when you play domestic cricket and then come to the IPL. But because you have scored heaps of runs (in domestic cricket ) and you’ve done that before. just adjustments.”
Both played multiple editions of IPL and even ran.
“It’s not like they are playing IPL for the first time. Then you can ask the question (of not measuring). They have done it before and they will be right. So far we are not there but they will improve,” Agarkar said. .
