Shane Watson, the assistant coach of Delhi Capitals (DC), has come forward to defend Prithvi Shaw's poor performance in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Watson believes that a talented player like Shaw does not suddenly lose his ability to play cricket.
Shaw seeking to rediscover touch
During DC's match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Saturday, Shaw came in as an impact player but was unfortunately run-out for a duck in the very first over. Anuj Rawat of RCB scored a direct hit at the non-striker's end, leaving Shaw short of his crease. The DC opener had punched the ball to extra cover where Rawat had dived to his right, quickly gotten up, and made a remarkable throw.
Shaw has had a poor run of form in the current IPL season, having scored only 34 runs from five innings, with his highest score being just 15. However, Watson believes that Shaw is a gifted player who will bounce back soon. It is worth noting that Shaw was one of the top performers for DC in the previous IPL season, scoring 308 runs in 13 matches with an average of 30.80 and a strike rate of 166.49.
"He can take down the best bowlers in the world and in all conditions. A player like Prithvi does not just fall out of a tree," he added.
Not just Shaw, the entire Delhi-based franchise is struggling this season as they are still awaiting their first win of the season.
Delhi losing streak continues
Virat Kohli sparkled with the bat with a breezy 50 off 34 balls to help RCB post a competitive 174/6. Vijaykumar Vyshak then impressed on debut with a brilliant spell of 3/20 as a collective bowling and a fine fielding effort saw them restrict DC to 151/9 and hand them their fifth loss in five matches on Saturday.
Speaking on match results, Watson said that the team's biggest issue is losing wickets in the powerplay as they are not executing well enough with the bat.
"Unfortunately, we were not able to put together good batting innings. Our biggest issue at this point in time is losing wickets in the first six overs and then consistently losing wickets. We were not able to put a partnership together and get some momentum especially on a ground like Chinnaswamy, if you can set a platform here you can score a lot of runs in the last 10 overs
We just are not executing well enough with the bat to be able to get through with the best bowlers with a brand-new ball. We are working with individuals, and right now just the way they are executing is not going as per the plan. They are not getting through the first 10-15 balls to be able to set a platform for their own innings," Watson said.
In search of their first win of the season, the Capitals will host Kolkata Knight Riders in their next fixture at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.