Delhi Capitals batters need to take more responsibility, feels Venugopal Rao

The Delhi Capitals' campaign continued to unravel with an eight-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, leaving their playoffs hopes hanging by a thread. Their batting order remained a major concern after the side managed only 142/8 batting first.

"After getting a good start, after seven or eight overs, we were in a good position, one wicket or something down. Then later on, next six to seven overs, we couldn't get a boundary. In this big beast of a tournament, you can't miss chances. We need to win patches," reflected their Director of Cricket, Venugopal Rao.

Rao admitted batting remained the side's biggest concern and stressed the need for individuals to take greater responsibility. "When things fail, as a batting unit, you need to take responsibility. 'I'll do it, rather than somebody does it.' So, I think that is missing, I felt," he said.

Kuldeep Yadav's alarming dip in form has compounded DC's problems with their strike bowler having returned just seven wickets in 10 matches while having an economy rate over 10. "Kuldeep, I think, somewhere he lost the rhythm. I think he'll come back. See, playing for so many years, more than 10 years in this circuit, he knows it. Sometimes you can't point out him. Happens in a tournament like this," said Rao optimistically.

With just three group-stage games left, the Capitals are faced with bleak odds of reaching the knockouts. "See, we can't give excuses right now. We need to face it. In this kind of a big tournament, we can't point at one match," said Rao.

While DC's campaign is fading, KKR appear to be peaking at the right time. They endured a rough start to the tournament, remaining winless after their first six games but have found momentum, having now won four games on the bounce. "I didn't think the belief was ever gone. We've had like a really good culture this whole tournament, I think, even before we won a game. A few guys mentioned that it hasn't felt like we've lost every game by how upbeat everyone's been," said Cameron Green.

"I think the support staff never put any pressure on me. I think they've been awesome to me since day one. Never made it feel like there's any extra pressure compared to anyone else on the team," said Green when asked about coming into the tournament with a hefty price tag.

Green also brushed aside concerns regarding his fitness and said that he's "100 per cent ready to bowl four overs", adding that the makeup of the side meant that he hadn't been bowling his full quota.

"I play a lot of cricket, so I think I get pretty used to working out my workload and how I can best go throughout the comp so I can keep energy for the back end. I think that's really important that when you are training, you're not trying to over-train because you can get to the back of the comp and you get quite tired," he added.

Finn Allen's whirlwind century meant that the Knight Riders chased the total down inside 15 overs. "Finn was exceptional today. He's been really good for us. Just, yeah, he's got off to amazing starts every time he's been out there. So that's exactly what we have got him in the team for. I think he's one of the best in the world at doing that and putting pressure back on. And you know when he gets to 30 or 40 that he's very hard to get out because he just keeps going," said Green.

The Knight Riders face Royal Challengers Bengaluru next on May 13 at Raipur.