IPL 2023 Season Review: Delhi Capitals (DC)

Delhi Capitals with 5 wins in 14 matches, finished IPL 2023 with 10 points at 9th position.

Delhi Capitals suffered a big setback even before the season was yet to commence. Their full-time captain Rishabh Pant was ruled out from the entire season due to a massive accident he suffered in December last year. Under new captain David Warner, Delhi had a forgettable IPL 2023 season. Their batting line-up let them down in most of the game. Delhi ended their season in 9th place in the table. They could only manage to win 5 games out of the 14 league games. Captain David Warner was the only batter to score heavily for Delhi Capitals. Most of the time he ended up scoring big runs for Capitals and he did not get the required support from the other end.

Captain David Warner’s partner at the other end Prithvi Shaw had a pathetic season with the bat. Apart from his inning against Punjab in the last league game he failed to replicate his domestic form in the IPL, same with Sarfaraz Khan, Manish Pandey. Apart from David Warner, all-rounder Axar Patel had a decent season but the problem was in their middle order. Delhi bowlers had a good season but due to poor batting they failed to build momentum in their campaign.

Fact Sheet:

Delhi Capitals have finished at 9th place in the points table. In most of the rounds of the game Delhi stayed at bottom 10th place for so long. Win against Punjab Kings in Dharamshala put them above Sunrisers Hyderabad. Delhi Capitals have won 5 games and lost 9 out of their 14 encounters. Delhis’ NRR ended at -0.808.

Top Performers

Leading Run Scorer - David Warner:

Captain David Warner had a great season with the bat for Delhi Capitals. It's just that he missed a support from the other end in a few games, where he could have gone on to win it for the team. Warner scored 516 runs in 14 innings with an average of 36.85 and a strike rate of 131.63. His strike rate is on a lower side due to the game situations. Warner smashed 6 fifties and smashed only 10 sixes in the IPL 2023.

Leading Wicket taker - Mitchell Marsh:

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh failed miserably with the bat but he remained a key feature for Capitals in their bowling attack. Mitchell Marsh is Delhi Capitals leading wicket taker with 12 wickets in 9 games. Marsh also bowled with a decent economy rate of 8.42. He failed with the bat and could only score 128 runs in 9 innings.

The Underperformer of the Season

Prithvi Shaw:

Coming from a great domestic season with Mumbai, Delhi management expected a lot from him. He had the chance to impress Indian team management as well for the upcoming Asia Cup and World Cup in India as the Indian team are dealing with few injuries. Shaw failed massively in Delhi’s campaign. After a few games he got dropped from the eleven as well. Apart from his fifty against Punjab Kings, Shaw threw his wicket away under powerplay. In 8 games, Prithvi Shaw could only score 106 runs including a 54 against Punjab Kings. His average is merely 13.25.  

Kuldeep Yadav:

A wicket taking option, and an unconventional option as a bowler in the middle overs, Kuldeep Yadav also failed to live up to the expectations Delhi management had on him. On a rare occasion, Kuldeep was unable to pick wickets and break partnerships in the middle overs for Delhi Capitals. He did try in a few games but could not carry it in crunch games. Kuldeep played 14 games and picked up only 10 wickets with a decent economy rate of 7.36.

Special mentions

Apart from David Warner, all-rounder Axar Patel had a good season for Delhi Capitals. Axar with the bat and ball played a crucial role in Delhi’s handful of victories in the IPL 2023. If he was promoted up the order in initial stages, he could have become the support David Warner was looking for. Axar in 14 games scored 283 runs and picked up 11 wickets. He was Delhi’s second leading run-scorer and wicket taker of this season.

Top team performance

In a rare case this season, Delhi had a stunning victory in Dharamshala against Punjab Kings. For the first time in the entire season Delhi’s batting clicked as a unit and put up 213 runs on the board for the first time in this season. From David Warner (46), Prithvi Shaw (54) to Rille Rossouw (82) smashed PBKS bowlers around the park. Delhi won the game by 15 runs. Punjab failed to put up a fight against Delhi’s bowling as well.

Captain’s report card

Leading the team in absence of Rishabh Pant, DC captain David Warner had a great season with the bat but lacked confidence as a captain. He along with Delhi management failed to get their strategies and planning on track in the entire season. Warner was unable to get the best out of their team. Apart from his personal batting, David Warner’s report card looks below average as a leader.

Lessons to be learned

No thinking much on this season, Delhi needs to just begin their next as it is. Delhi despite having a team of decent T20 players they could not win more than 5 matches. This also reflects on the competitiveness of this tournament. Delhi missed Rishabh Pant in the middle order and once he is back, this team will be a force again.