IPL 2020, DC vs MI: 'Players feeling the pressure' after four straight losses, says Delhi's assistant coach Mohammad Kaif

Mohammad Kaif, the assistant coach of Delhi Capitals (DC), said that the players were feeling a bit of pressure after they suffered a fourth consecutive loss on Saturday in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in the UAE.

Courtesy of excellent bowling from MI's pace attack, DC were restricted at 110 for 9 in 20 overs. DC captain Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 29-ball 25 and Rishabh Pant scored 21 from 24 balls, while four batsmen only managed scored in a single digit, including Shikhar Dhawan's two-ball duck. MI's pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, who picked three wickets each help MI restrict DC at 110 for 9 in 20 overs. Rahul Chahar and Nathan Coulter-Nile made a breakthrough each in the first innings.

Speaking at the post-match interview, Kaif, who joined the DC camp last season, said it is normal that at some stage, the players can lose form and struggle, but all they have to do is stick together at the moment.

"Players are feeling a bit of pressure, that can happen, we expect that we are trying to keep the team together, at some stage you will lose form and struggle for it but we are still backing our main players, we did not expect that it might come down to net run-rate, we thought we might qualify easily, now we have to fight it out against RCB," added Kaif in the interview.

Second-placed RCB are currently playing against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Sharjah. Since DC lost against MI, RCB will make it to the playoffs if they manage to defeat SRH on Saturday. As a result, DC not only will have to win their last group match on Monday but also bag a big win to ensure their net run-rate is superior to Kings XI Punjab's if the KL Rahul-led side also won on Sunday.

Delhi made three changes to their playing XI for the MI match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Commenting on these changes, Kaif said," We thought playing a leg-spinner was the right way to go, we brought back Shaw as he had played good innings in the initial phase of the tournament, we all know what he can do on his day, we are just trying to find the best possible combination, we kept the main players together, we still have a lot of players who can win the match for us, right now we don't have much time to set things up, we will focus on the next match.

We had a good start, probably we relaxed a bit in the middle and injury to Ishant and Amit Mishra did not help, we had to try uncapped Indian players, that's why we could not get our eleven going, it is a tough tournament, we have probably lost the rhythm but we are looking to our next match against RCB, we hope to win that and qualify for the playoffs."

Kagiso Rabada, who has been DC's spearhead, has suddenly gone without wickets in two back-to-back matches. Speaking about the South African's situation, Kaif explained,"I feel Rabada in the initial matches, there was a little bit of grip, the ball was holding up and that made life tougher for the batsmen, he has been fantastic in the middle overs, the pitches have become slower now so his cutters are not holding in the surface."