Coach Rahul Dravid is a 'priceless' gift for DD, says IPL debutant Kagiso Rabada

Delhi Daredevils and IPL debutant Kagiso Rabada stated that his side’s defeat to table-toppers Mumbai Indians was due to some soft dismissals from the top-order batsman despite dismissing the opposition to a low score.

Rabada’s reference was to the dismissal of the opener Aditya Tare. The Mumbaikar was dismissed, thanks to a suicidal run-out in the first over of the innings. Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed tamely in the opening overs of their innings as well.

The total seemed to be at a distance from the end-product as the powerplay overs came at a cost for the Daredevils.

“It was a good outing. Unfortunately, we just did not pull it off. We bowled well and had a few dismissals, run outs, soft dismissals in the first six (overs). That’s when you are capable of chasing much more than that,” said Rabada after the Daredevils lost the low-scoring game by 14 runs.

Earlier in the day, the South African quick Rabada got off to the best of starts on his IPL debut picking up the wicket of the Mumbai opener Parthiv Patel in his first over. He further, followed up his spell with the comeback knock for the Daredevils. DD were reduced to 24/6 before the South African duo Rabada, and Chris Morris led the fightback for the team.

“It’s disappointing that we are losing. At the end of the day, we did not execute quite well. The numbers talk for themselves. But we have trust in our batsmen; we have some young talent. The tournament is far from over,” said Rabada with some optimism after the Daredevils slumped to their fourth defeat of the season in six games.

The youngster’s praise for the coach Dravid was endless as he stated that Dravid had given ample freedom to the players, which makes them expressive on the field.

“Rahul Dravid was a magnificent player. And he has proved to be a good mentor. He knows the game very well and his experience is priceless. He has played the game at the highest level and he has done it exceptionally well,” he said.

“He is a great guy to have in the change room specially since we have a lot of youngsters and they are definitely learning from him.” Rabada added.

The pacer wrapped it up by saying that the Daredevils are a fighting side and will not back off from competition in the tournament. He also said that the opening punch in the matches are always delivered by the Daredevils, the final product not going their way has been the issue for them thus far in the Indian Premier League.