Assistant coach Shane Watson feels the Delhi Capitals (DC) will have their work cut out for them to ruin the celebration of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their last league game at home on Saturday, May 20.
DC are presently second-last in the IPL 2023 points standings and have already been eliminated from contention for the playoffs. They managed to reduce the aspirations of the Punjab Kings` by defeating them in the last match, and Watson believes the squad would want to continue their fine form against Chennai.
Shane Watson had this to say about DC on the ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast:
“Playing CSK is always a big game and there will be a lot of yellow at the Kotla. Our job now will definitely be to ruin some seasons and this is exactly what Ricky (Ponting) spoke in the pre-match talk.”
Watson was pleased with how the Capitals batted against Punjab in Dharamsala and believed that challenging conditions in Delhi had held them back this season. He went on to say:
“One of the main reasons why we (DC) haven’t done well this season has been our batting and the conditions that we have at home, slow and low and turning pitches, we really need world-class Indian batters to capitalize. Hopefully, we can bring the confidence of the last game and play well against CSK.”
CSK are going to be hard to beat in playoffs: Shane Watson
Shane Watson believes that if the Capitals fail to halt the Chennai Super Kings, the latter would have a significant edge in the IPL 2023 playoffs since the Qualifier 1 and Eliminator will be held in Chennai.
In response, he stated:
“With the first two playoff games to be played in Chennai, CSK are going to be hard to beat if we don’t spoil their party. They know the conditions really well and will have a massive advantage in the lead-up to the final.”
Chennai must win their game against Delhi on Saturday to ensure that their hopes of making the IPL 2023 playoffs are not compromised.