IPL 2023: Despite tipping Shaw for international success, Watson decodes his reasons for DC struggles

With the incredible talent that young opener Prithvi Shaw possesses, he should be dominating international cricket, feels assistant coach Shane Watson, who added that the opener's abject failure has been the biggest letdown for Delhi Capitals (DC) this Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Ahead of this edition's IPL, head coach Ricky Pointing had said this would be Shaw's breakthrough season.

However, the prodigiously talented opener has failed miserably and was dropped after playing six games adding to Delhi's batting woes. "One of the most disappointing parts for DC this season was Prithvi Shaw. He's one of the most beautiful batters to watch and take down the best bowling with the skills that he's got," Watson told reporters on the eve of DC's match against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.

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"And knowing that we gave him a big stretch to find his feet. We also knew he has been a little bit inconsistent as well in the past few years," added Watson. Delhi's inconsistent batting unit afforded the 23-year-old another chance and Shaw made a stunning comeback with his maiden fifty of the season against Punjab Kings (PBKS) earlier this week.

"But, missing out on a few games he centralised and focussed him on what direction he wants to go. Because he's so incredibly skilled with the bat in hand he needs to bring every part of the game together. He should be dominating international cricket. But sometimes, it takes people some time to navigate how they can do that consistently. He certainly had an extra bit of fire in his belly the other day," Watson maintained.

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The Kotla pitch doesn't suit our batting attack
Watson feels that the pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium doesn't suit the Capitals' batting line-up. "The pitches here in Delhi haven't been great. They are probably great if you have a different type of set-up to the team... if you have a lot of Indian top-order batters. But, that's not the make-up of our team," he explained.

After posting their first 200-plus score of the season in Dharamsala earlier this week, skipper David Warner had said that the Delhi batters are struggling to figure out the best total at the slow and inconsistent pitches at home. "As we saw when we can play in good, traditional cricket wicket, true surface, the ball doesn't really turn a lot but is going through nicely we saw what can happen with our overseas players, Prithvi that's our strength," Watson said.

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"But, we come here to Delhi unfortunately with the amount of cricket being played on this wicket block, it's very dry and doesn't have much grass, which exposes the set-up of our batting at the moment. Hopefully, the conditions will be a bit more suitable for our team," he added.

Consistent leadership helps CSK bounce back after failures
Having been a part of the CSK set-up for a few years, Watson feels the consistent leadership and calmness help the four-time champions bounce back from failures. "What stood out for me was the consistent leadership, with MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming and just the calmness they have throughout the franchise. CSK don't chop and change their team too much. They have a very settled team without making too many changes, they understand what their roles are, that's something at DC we need to get better at, to provide the calm within the team, the franchise," he continued.

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This season Delhi has struggled with its Indian batting line-up. The inconsistency has led to think-tank shuffling around with the playing XI throughout the season. "It makes things a lot easier if the team is performing more consistently as well. They have the playing group to bounce back as well with the experience they normally have. In DC, we have a younger group that we are trying to help grow," he highlighted.

The former Australian all-rounder said for a team to succeed in the IPL, the sides' Indian players must do well. "You need the foreign players' experience but the team that does consistently the best is the one with high-performance Indian players because there are seven or eight of them and have an impact on the season. Rishabh [Pant] was a huge hole we are trying to fill this year. But, there has been a lot of progress and development this year to set them up for the next few seasons," concluded Watson.

(With inputs from PTI)