Venugopal Rao, Delhi Capitals’ Director of Cricket, lamented his team’s poor catching and bowling in the first six overs after a demoralising six-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. Despite posting its highest-ever total of 264 for two, courtesy K.L. Rahul’s career-best unbeaten effort of 152, DC contrived to go down with seven balls to spare.

Among the flaws laid bare, the fielding lapses were particularly galling. Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer, who form the fulcrum of PBKS’ power-packed batting line-up, were all offered reprieves that they gleefully capitalised on.

“Fielding let us down. We dropped almost six catches today. When you are dropping catches at a crucial time, especially of players like Prabhsimran, Priyansh and Shreyas, we won’t win these kind of matches,” Venugopal told the media on Saturday.

Another aspect where the host faltered was its bowling in the PowerPlay. The DC attack allowed Kings to waltz to 116 for none in six overs, with Priyansh and Prabhsimran depositing the ball into the stands as nonchalantly as they would in a range-hitting training session. Venugopal highlighted Lungi Ngidi’s enforced absence due to an injury in the third over of the chase as a decisive factor.

“There were lots of good bits. If you look back, (not having) four overs of Ngidi and (spilling) six catches made a big difference. We all know what Ngidi can do with his experience. We missed that. Where we can improve is PowerPlay bowling and catching,” the former India batter assessed.

Published on Apr 26, 2026