IPL 2025: If set players kept playing, we would’ve easily won, says DC’s Nigam

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) The horrid home leg for Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2025 continued with their 14-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders and leg-spin all-rounder Vipraj Nigam admitted the hosts’ could have won the game on Tuesday night if their set batters had continued till the end.

In the chase of 205, DC were kept steady by a 76-run stand between vice-captain Faf du Plessis and captain Axar Patel. But once Sunil Narine took out Axar and Tristan Stubbs in the 14th over, before taking out du Plessis as well, it meant DC suffered another meltdown against spinners- going from 136/3 to ending at 190/9. Before this game, DC had lost 23 wickets to spinners.

Now against KKR, six of nine wickets they lost were taken by spinners, thus exposing a major chink in DC’s batting armour. It also doesn’t help that returns from the likes of Karun Nair and KL Rahul have nosedived.

“Our plan from the beginning was to target their main two spinners. We had also targeted them in the starting two overs (and it worked well). The idea was that if we target two good bowlers, then we will get more overs (from other bowlers) or an extra bowler will come in.”

“It was the same, but moments like these happen, where shot selection (goes wrong) or something like that. Then it happened that our set players got out. It was such a wicket, against such a bowling line-up, that it is very difficult (for a new batter) to come out and play shots immediately. So if the set players kept playing, we would have easily won the match,” said Nigam in the post-match press conference.

Nigam himself played a late cameo of 38 off 19 balls, but was unable to take DC over the line. “In our practice sessions and the matches we have watched and learnt, it is that there’s hope of scoring till the last ball. It was in our hands to try and go till the last ball. So, that’s what I was doing.”

“There is nothing wrong in catching the conditions of the ground. But, somewhere, the decisions that we take at the last moment or something like that happens, because of which the game gets messed up. But we are still in the top four, which is a good thing. We have four more games left in which we will try to comeback and finish in the top two,” he added.

Previously Nigam took 2-41 in his four overs, and be back amongst the wicket-taking charts for DC after going wicketless in last four matches. He credited the backing from DC team management over him coming good with the ball, even as pacers conceded runs aplenty.

“Cricket and IPL is a journey where there are always ups and downs. But the main thing is how strong you are and how strong your mindset is, how is your team’s environment, your management, and senior players. – their role is very important in this. I’m pretty lucky that I have always got that backing.”

“Like, even if there are a few matches up and down, they are not thinking of removing us – instead they back us and also said, ‘If you have any doubts, you can talk to us’. But we are backing them.”

“I have had conversations with Axar bhai, KL (Rahul) bhai and other senior players as well. They have shown a lot of support and said, ‘whatever you did well in the starting matches, continue to do that and even if things aren’t great in 1-2 games, don’t think too much about it’,” he elaborated.

It also helps Nigam that his Uttar Pradesh team-mate Kuldeep Yadav is in DC camp. “The best part is that we play together in the domestic circuit and share a very good bond. I even had some good chats before the IPL as well. So, it’s great to have someone like him around and form a good bonding.”

“Like in the last match, I bowled badly a couple of times, but Kuldeep and Axar bhai came to bowl. Everyone says that bowl the way you do and don’t think too much. In many teams, if you don’t bowl well a couple of times, then sometimes, you will get dropped from the team. But there is nothing like this in our team and management,” he added.

For left-arm spinner Anukul Roy, the match against DC was his first game of IPL 2025. Though the pitch wasn’t exactly the gripping one which was dished out when Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were in the town on Sunday, Roy finished with a tidy 1-27 and took out left-handed wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel.

“We didn’t think much about that as there’s a lot (of chatter) going on right now in terms of not being able to use a left-arm spinner when a left-handed batter is batting. The main thing was that if the wicket helped a little, which here didn’t provide any help, we’d change the length or line. For the right-handers, it was to mix balls which were outside and inside,” he said.

Roy was informed of his inclusion in the playing eleven during the practice session on Monday and felt the pitch was similar to the one they get at Eden Gardens. “I came to know yesterday during practice that I’m playing here. The wicket was a good one for batting. We’ve been practicing for playing on wickets like that, as there’s a similar wicket in Kolkata.”

“We had a habit of bowling and getting the wickets in areas where we wanted – like when we wanted to put the yorker, or bowling outside off-stump. We could adjust to that by bowling our variations.”

Roy signed off by revealing how he kept himself match-ready in training sessions, along with some help from senior players and spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe. “I was doing everything well in preparation – training, running, bowling, batting. I was waiting for the chance and preparation is important.”

“I got a lot of help from all the seniors like Narine and Varun. I keep talking to them – like what are you doing in this situation where there’s a batting wicket? Moeen (Ali) bhai is also there for support. He’s an off-spinner, and I’m an off-spinner as well with the left arm. It’s good for both of us to know what to do, and the spin-bowling coach is training us well.”

–IANS

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