Delhi Capitals cap ‘home run’ with win but questions remain about surface

NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals started their home campaign this season with a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians and ended it with a five-wicket victory against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.


Sandwiched between those wins were five losses here at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which has left them with only a narrow window of advancing into the playoffs with one away game remaining against KKR at the Eden Gardens next Sunday.







The Capitals couldn’t come to terms with the varying nature of the pitch at Kotla and often failed to find the right strategy or team composition for their home games. “Earlier I used to think a lot after seeing the wicket, but now I’m not thinking too much because whenever I’ve tried to predict it, the opposite has happened,” skipper Axar Patel said.
Coach Hemang Badani was more critical of the surface after his side’s win against the Royals. “We have stopped discussing the surface. We play this venue as an away venue,” he said.


With franchises having no role in pitch preparation and the BCCI-appointed curators deciding the nature of the surface at each venue, ‘home advantage’ is now a thing of the past in the IPL. Capitals are not the lone team to suffer. Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians have lost four of their six games at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium and the Wankhede. Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals have had an additional home problems to deal with. While Punjab won three of their four games in New Chandigarh, they lost all three in their second home base at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.


The Royals maintained an allwin record in the three matches at ACA Stadium in Guwahati. However, they lost all three at their primary home base at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Kolkata Knight Riders enjoy a 50% win record at the Eden Gardens.


However, not all teams are struggling at home, notably league leaders RCB, who have enjoyed quite the home run. Despite playing in two home venues in Bengaluru and Raipur, their only home defeat came against the Delhi Capitals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Sunrisers, CSK and Gujarat Titans too have a better home win record.
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