Placed fifth and a step away from the top four, Delhi Capitals will take on third-placed Rajasthan Royals in Match 58 of IPL 2022 at the D.Y Patil Stadium here on Wednesday, hoping to win their sixth match of the league and maintain their chances of making the grade, Delhi Capitals are clubbed together with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Punjab Kings at 10 points but have a superior net run rate. Rishabh Pant's side will be looking to bounce back into form after suffering a 91-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings in their last match at the same venue. Delhi were carted around by the four-time champions, who made 208/6 in 20 overs and then bowled them out for 117 runs in 17.4 overs for one of their worst defeats.
Despite the huge setback, Delhi Capitals' Assistant Coach Shane Watson was confident of a comeback and said they will have to execute their plans consistently to emerge successful in this close race for the top four spots. He also said that executing their plans consistently has been the biggest challenge faced by the team so far. Speaking ahead of the match against Rajasthan Royals, Watson said they will be facing a tough opponent. Delhi had lost by 15 runs when they had first met Rajasthan in IPL 2022. "The Rajasthan Royals have been playing well and they have been consistent throughout the tournament. Jos Buttler has been incredible for them and Rajasthan have world-class spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The Royals are going to be a tough opponent and every individual has to up their game," Watson was quoted as saying by Delhi Capitals in a release on Tuesday. When asked about the tough 91-run loss against Chennai Super Kings, Watson said, "Our last match against CSK certainly wasn't our best game. CSK batted incredibly well to be able to get the total that they did. We were a little bit off with our execution with the ball. And we just had one of those days with the bat when things didn't go our way." The Australian further added, "Ricky (head coach Ricky Ponting) has always asked the players to learn from their last game, learn about the little things that they can improve on individually, and then just move forward on to the next game. The most important thing is that the players need to keep learning." Watson also spoke about the biggest challenge the Delhi Capitals have faced this season, "Our biggest challenge this season has been our execution. We have executed our plans in all three departments at times, but we've not been able to be consistent. The players have been working really hard to find a way to be consistent and hopefully, we can execute our plans over the last three games."