Delhi Capitals in TATA IPL 2023: The Delhi Capitals franchise is the only team who have not earned any points on the board. The DC side has played five games of the Indian Premier League 2023 season so far and they have lost all of them.

They are in a similar situation to Mumbai Indians. The five-time champion side too had a disastrous start in IPL 2015 season.

Still, Rohit and his men won the title after losing four games and MI is the only team to achieve that feat in this tournament.

Now DC should aim for a comeback in this tournament and they will look to be the second team to win an IPL Trophy after losing five games on the trot.

Delhi Capitals will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the 28th match of the 16th edition of this cash-rich league tournament at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, 20th April 2023.

Before the encounter between DC Vs KKR starts, let us figure out why Delhi Capitals haven’t won a single game in the ongoing season of the TATA IPL 2023 edition –

1. David Warner

The Australia opener hasn’t looked great as a leader in the five matches played so far. Under David Warner, the SRH (Sunrisers Hyderabad) team won the IPL title in the 2016 season.

But after that Warner's captaincy and leadership skills have gone down. That was the main reason why the Orange Army removed Warner from their team. 

This year, Warner has replaced Rishabh Pant as the skipper of the DC side. The overall approach of Warner hasn’t been good and even the cricket fans and the experts have not liked their sluggish approach in the five games played so far.

Warner has been getting runs for them. But not the way he usually does, especially when he plays for Australia. His low strike rate is also a concern and that is not acceptable in the shortest format.

Even while chasing a high score and when the required run rate is more than 12 runs per over, Warner was seen dealing with ones and twos when the team needs a boundary or a six each over and the pressure mounts on the other batters.

The start is also not good. The DC openers start off slowly and Warner in particular shows no intent.

2. Mitchell Marsh

This Australian player looked impressive in the three-match ODI series which the Aussies won against India before the start of the TATA IPL 2023 season.

Marsh was the man of the series because he amassed the most runs and he opened the innings with Travis Head.

But in this ongoing season, Marsh has looked like a different player in these five games and he has also not bowled a single over. 

The Australian all-rounder has to deliver in the reaming matches of this tournament to make it to the playoff berth.

DC can open the innings with Warner and Marsh in their next game and see how things pan out for them. Or they will have to find a replacement for Marsh if he continues to underperform in the remaining matches and the same thing can go for the current skipper Warner as well. 

3. Other batters haven’t stepped up

Along with Warner and Marsh, other players like Prithvi Shaw, Rilee Rossouw, Rovman Powell and Sarfaraz Khan have not done well for the Capitals in the five matches played so far in this tournament.

Shaw has been a senior player and he was retained for this season. But Shaw hasn’t given a good show yet while Rossouw Powell and Sarfaraz have been disappointing for the DC side till now. 

4. Missing Rishabh Pant in the middle order

The middle order hasn’t come well for the Delhi Capitals side this season till now. They heavily relied on Rishabh Pant for the past few seasons.

But the flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman is not available for the DC side this season after he met a tragic accident.

However, DC hasn’t found Pant’s replacement as the keeper as well. Sarfaraz Khan hasn’t been good as Pant with the bat in the middle order and behind the stumps as the keeper.

DC should be consistent with Philip Salt or Abhisheikh Porel in the next few games because they are proper keeper batters in the side and Sarfaraz should play only as a pure batter in the middle order.