Dharamsala, May 15: Delhi Daredevils’ stand-in captain James Hopes was a disappointed man after his team crashed to a 29-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab. While speaking to the media after the game, Hopes said that his team did not execute the basics well. He also said that IPL is the premier T20 competition in the world.
Excerpts from the post-match press-conference:
On the game today
Today’s game kind of summed up our season. We got off to a pretty good start with the bat, then slowed down a bit and then tried and chase down 12-an-over for 10 overs which you aren’t going to do too many times successfully. And the fielding, we could have genuinely had them 2/10 and it would have been a whole different ball game.
On Virender Sehwag being missed by the Daredevils
He’s the world’s best opening batsman. Of course, we are going to miss him. Fact is he is not here. We’ve got to go out and play. It wasn’t our batting that let us down today. If you look at the game we missed chances, we missed half-chances and that pretty much summed up our effort.
On whether Sridharan Sriram’s over, which went for 25 runs, cost DD the game
Yes, but I bowled an over before that which went for 18 as well. So that could have made a difference as well.
On the playing conditions
Fast, bouncy [and it] seamed around about a little bit. About 160-170 on that wicket was about a par score. If they keep using the same wicket and the grass goes off, it’s going to get a little bit flatter.
On the motivation for DD now that they are out of contention for the Playoffs
If you look around the world this is the premier T20 competition. So if you are not motivated to play in this tournament you probably should not be here. It’s personal pride. We play professional cricket and we want to win every game we play. Tonight was about doing the basics well. And that’s what we didn’t do and that has cost us.
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