IPL 2018: 5 Reasons behind Delhi Daredevils' failure 

A lot was expected from the Delhi franchise that was one of the most active spenders in the auctions. Despite making some smart buys and forming an entirely new core with Ricky Ponting as the guide, the team could not create an impact and yet again fell below expectations with a bottom-placed finish at this year's edition of the Indian Premier League.

The Daredevils, who are yet to qualify for the playoffs since 2012, were in a position to grab a place in the top four before the tournament began considering the resources they had in their squad.

All Delhi Daredevils can do now is look at the positives with the team grabbing a couple of high profile victories before bowing out. As far as the negatives are concerned, the team will have to sort it out to avoid a similar situation next year.

Here's a look at the troubles that loomed the franchise that caused them to finish in the last place.

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#5 Ineffective veterans

It was a tournament to forget for Gambhir and Shami

The purchase of Gautam Gambhir from the Kolkata Knight Riders was deemed as a solution for the franchise's leadership woes that have been troubling them for quite some time.

But despite starting strong, Gambhir's performances with the bat turned woeful which in turn added pressure to the middle order. This resulted in Gambhir resigning himself as the captain and was eventually dropped, the sudden transition did not end up being smooth and had several long-term consequences.

Apart from Gambhir, Mohammed Shami too failed to turn up with the ball and was a sporadic presence in the line-up before being dropped for good as the tournament progressed. The right arm pacer came into the tournament amidst a cloud of controversy and the side instilled faith in him by using the right to match card, but unfortunately, his performances never spoke the magnitude.

#4 Injuries and lacklustre replacements

Rabada's

injury hit

Delhi harder than expected

The team was hit with a huge blow before the start of the tournament with the injury of one of the leading fast bowlers in the world, Kagiso Rabada. The South African was expected to spearhead the bowling line-up after a good home season.

The replacement of the young fast bowler was announced as England's all-rounder Liam Plunkett much to the dismay of many. Despite creating an impact straightaway in the first match, Plunkett was nowhere near his best in the remaining matches and ended up causing more harm than good for the team.

Yet another star who was ruled out of injury was the retained South African all-rounder Chris Morris. The player was ruled out of the tournament after playing the initial few games, his replacement turned out to be fellow South African pacer Junior Dala who had a good T20 series against India. But the replacement Dala, could not create as much impact as Morris in the very few opportunities he received.

#3 Poor defence

Batsmen toyed around with the Delhi bowlers while chasing

This is a sector where the Daredevils should have taken notes from the table toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad. In several games, it was the bowling that let the team down after failing to defend the good score that the batsmen had set for the opposition.

In both fixtures against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the bowlers had no answer while the opposition batsman steamrolled away to achieve the total. This cost the team several points and the story would have been totally different had Delhi been a bit more stringent in terms of defending totals.

#2 Overdependence on Pant and Iyer

Pant was the lone bright star in the disastrous campaign

Rishabh Pant was undoubtedly the highlight of the Delhi Daredevils' campaign, his fearless hitting matched with his eye-catchy strokes was definitely a treat to watch.

But unfortunately, the immense contributions made by Pant and the interim skipper Iyer was apparently not enough as most often they failed to get any support from the other end. The duo accounted for most of the team's runs this season and played crucial runs in the handful of victories they got this season.

Pant's stellar consistency proved futile in the end as he was let down either by poor bowling or fielding.

Whereas Iyer was in a good flow as the tournament progressed, but the pressure of captaincy eventually caught up as he was evidently struggling at the fag end of the fixtures.

#1 Team Balance

Balance is Everything

Balance is of the utmost importance when it comes to a side with the huge talent pool such as the Daredevils. For instance, when it comes to opening the innings, a variety of combinations were used which included Munro, Gambhir, Roy, Iyer, Maxwell and Shaw. The side struggled to get an opening combination right throughout the tournament.

Whereas when it comes to the bowling department, only Trent Boult was the constant pillar while everything was shuffled around him. There was just no stability in the bowling line-up which the opposition took advantage of.

Out of form players such as Maxwell, received too many chances often put pressure on the batting line-up more often than not.

The team finally found some balance towards the end with the inclusion of Abhishek Sharma and Sandeep Lammichanne in the lineup. It might have been a whole different story had the Daredevils gone with the same lineup form the start.

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Do you think there are any more reasons for the failure of Delhi Daredevils in this year's IPL? Please feel free to sound off in the comments section below.