'We were really very poor and we didn't bat intelligently on that kind of wicket.'
Delhi Daredevils chief coach Rahul Dravid defended the team management's decision to appoint Karun Nair as the captain in place of an injured Zaheer Khan against Kings XI Punjab, despite the Karnataka batsman going through a wretched run with the bat, in the ongoing tenth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Daredevils lost their sixth game of the tournament, suffering a humiliating 10-wicket loss after they were bowled out for a palty 67 by Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, on Sunday.
Nair himself is struggling with the bat in IPL 10, having managed just 89 in eight matches so far.
When asked why Nair was appointed the skipper despite his run of poor scores, Dravid pointed out that his form had nothing to do with his captaincy.
"We decided pretty early on in the tournament that if Zaheer Khan gets injured, Karun would be the person, who will take over the captaincy. Obviously, last year's vice-captain JP (Duminy) and Quinton de Kock wasn't here as well," Dravid reasoned.
"Look, it happens when you are out of form, whether you are a captain or you are a vice-captain, that's not a reflection on his captaincy. He has led junior teams and led quite well. There is nothing much he can do if there are not good enough runs on the board. Obviously, he and we would like him to score a few more runs," he said.
Dravid is hoping his team can turnaround their fortunes and put up a better showing in their remaining matches.
"We can only go up from here. Look, we are better than what we showed today." he said.
"It is very disappointing, just to think there is not much to say when you get out for 67 and they chase it without loss. Nothing much to say except the fact that we were pretty disappointing today in our execution and our batting just was not up to mark," he further added.
Dravid said that aim will be not to think too far ahead like winning their remaining six games and keep their hopes alive of making it to the play-offs.
"We should not try and think too far ahead, just focus on our next game and put up much better performance. I think our fans and our franchise deserves better than what we did," he said.
Dravid slammed the Delhi batsmen, saying they were really very poor.
"We lost some close games which were relatively close. But the last couple of times, I think, we did not play well. Even in Kolkata, I thought first 15 overs of our batting was good and then we lost in the last five overs.
"And then, of course, we were really very poor and we didn't bat intelligently on that kind of wicket. We didn't assess the conditions well enough and didn't give ourselves a chance," he pointed out.
Asked if maintaining consistency is difficult in the T20s, Dravid, said, "Yeah, I think once you are in good form and you get on a bit of a roll, in this T20 competition, especially with games coming so quickly and back-to-back.
"Hopefully, we can go to Delhi and turn it around. There is not a lot of time to practice between these games, we literally travel, play the next day, so there is not lot of time to practice and sort of get your groove back."
