After four losses in five games, Delhi Daredevils were understandably desperate to win. That they were playing their first home game of the season must have been extra motivation to change the trend of losses.

Gautam Gambhir was all for change at the toss, announcing as many as five modifications to the Playing XI from the previous match. Liam Plunkett came in for the injured Chris Morris, Dan Christian replaced Jason Roy, Amit Mishra returned in place of Shahbaz Nadeem, Avesh Khan was picked in place of Harshal Patel and Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Prithvi Shaw finally made his IPL debut, replacing Vijay Shanker.

On a fresh surface on their home ground, the Delhi bowling unit did a terrific job of restricting the high-flying Kings XI Punjab batting unit to 143, after they had amassed 51 in the Powerplay.

Plunkett, who replaced Kagiso Rabada in the DD squad, set the field on fire on his IPL debut with superb figures of 3/17. He gave the much-needed edge to the bowling, partnering with Trent Boult who briefly held the Purple Cap at the end of the first innings.

In the modest chase, DD raced ahead with Shaw giving them a blistering start with 22 off 10.

In short, it was Delhi Daredevils’s game to lose. And lose they did, by a mere four runs, sticking to the bottom of the table. They imploded from a comfortable position, as they have done so many times before in the 10-year course of the Indian Premier League.

How they actually contrived to lose the game is a familiar story. A story of their batting cracking under pressure they created for themselves.

Batting brain-fade

It was as early as the third over, when Shaw’s brief lapse in concentration saw Ankit Rajpoot crash his stumps, that the signs begin to show. An alert KXIP in the field, a smart bowling captain in R Ashwin, and the fragility of DD’s unit so far, meant that although low-scoring, this was going to be close.

Captain Gautam Gambhir, on a homecoming of sorts, was perhaps the most disappointing. Never a big smasher of the ball, his figures this season as a returning captain have been strikingly sore. After Shaw and Glenn Maxwell had departed early, he threw away his wicket at the most crucial juncture, edging to mid-off in an attempt to go for shots.

As an opener, if Gambhir is unable to make the most of the Powerplay, it becomes tougher for the batsman coming after him. This was a no-pressure chase for most part, and the margin of just four runs will weigh heavily on all the top-order batsmen, but more so on the captain. The big question looming ahead of their match on Friday against KKR is whether he should continue at the top?

Then, there is Glenn Maxwell, the team’s most expensive pick, who is yet to activate his attack mode in a winning cause. He was sent in at No 3, and with good reason. He began well before a brain fade of sorts saw him misread the slower ball from Rajpoot and go for a mistimed loft, a completely unnecessary shot given it was still early in the innings.

The onus was then on Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, both of whom had scored fifties in the last match. But Pant was unlucky to run into Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman who foxed him with a ball that crossed the gate and crashed the stumps.

Apart from Pant, none of the dismissals were particularly stunning. It was simply poor cricket from one side.

Almost a last-over thriller

Despite the abject batting, DD managed to take it to the last over. The unlikely hero for Delhi turned to be Rahul Tewatia (24 off 21 balls) who brought the equation down to 28 off 18. But current Purple cap holder Andrew Tye got him on the last ball of his spell to put the pressure back on Iyer, who had solidly constructed his innings. He almost got them over the line in the dramatic last over, but the rock around DD’s neck is the failure of the batting collective, and it is what sunk them in the end.

Here’s how the dramatic last over played out:

Teenage Mujeeb with the ball. 17 need off six. Dot ball. Six and Iyer reaches his fifty. Another dot as he refuses a single. Misfield and they come back for the second. Another misfeld and the ball races to the boundary. Five runs needed off the last ball. It has to be a six from Iyer, or a four at least to tie. But he goes big and the ball goes high. Finch comes underneath it and Mujeeb has the last laugh. KXIP win by four runs.

Iyer looked distraught, Gambhir looked furious, Ricky Ponting continued looking stoic, probably thinking of the task ahead. The Australian great will need to summon all his energy and tactical nous from his days as the country’s most successful captain to revive the sinking fortunes of the Daredevils.

Drastic team changes, fresh blood introduces, batting order reshuffled, and yet it was the same old problems, not being able to hold to momentum and lacking application is a tough spot. If DD harbour any hopes of playoffs, they will have to win every game from now on. In the current scenario that looks implausible, unless Ponting, Gambhir & Co pull off a miracle.