One of the original franchises to never have won an Indian Premier League (IPL) title is Delhi Capitals (DC). And at the inception of IPL 2023, Delhi were dealt with another blow as their regular skipper Rishabh Pant was ruled out because of an injury.
Led by stand-in-captain David Warner, Delhi Capitals had a forgettable IPL 2023 campaign. They narrowly saved themselves from being rooted to the bottom of the table and registered 5 wins in 14 games.
David Warner tried out 23 players in IPL 2023 and the constant chopping and changing didn’t help their cause at all. Several players were big let-downs in the Delhi squad.
In this article, we take a look at 3 Delhi Capitals players who were big disappointments in IPL 2023:
1. Manish Pandey
Experienced player Manish Pandey was brought in to the Delhi Capitals set-up to bring in solidity and stability in the middle-order. But the 33-year-old had a miserable IPL 2023 campaign and was also dropped for a few matches.
In 10 games, Manish Pandey mustered only 160 runs and managed to hit only 3 sixes. Pandey had a paltry strike-rate of 109.59 and was a big disappointment in the Delhi Capitals, considering his good reputation.
2. Prithvi Shaw
Once touted as the next big-thing in Indian cricket, Prithvi Shaw is slowly losing his ground. Shaw had a forgettable IPL 2023 campaign and was kept out of the playing XI for a considerable period of time.
The youngster scored only 106 runs in 8 innings and managed to score only 1 fifty. He failed to provide solid starts upfront and David Warner had a lot of pressure on him. Prithvi Shaw will have to go back to the drawing board and get his bearings right, if he has to stage a strong comeback.
3. Khaleel Ahmed
The left-arm seamer was once considered as one of the best left-arm seamers of India. But he hasn’t been able to impress one and all and has also been dropped from the Indian cricket team.
Khaleel Ahmed bagged only 9 wickets in 9 IPL 2023 games and lacked the X-factor in him, which is needed for a bowler of his calibre. The 25-year-old bowler had an expensive average of 33.44 and a poor economy of 9.12 in IPL 2023.
He had a poor season as compared to IPL 2022, where he had notched up 16 wickets in 10 games and was a force to reckon with.
Also read: WTC 2023: 3 Reasons Why Steve Smith Might Pose As A Threat To India
