IPL 2020: 'When Shikhar Dhawan plays well, the Delhi Capitals suddenly become fearless' - Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has opined that the Delhi Capitals seem to fearlessly go all guns blazing when Shikhar Dhawan does well with the bat for them.

He made this observation while reviewing the Shreyas Iyer-led side's IPL 2020 Qualifier 2 win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Delhi Capitals made the best use of the powerplay overs by sending Marcus Stoinis to open the batting with Shikhar Dhawan. The duo went after the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling to give their team a fantastic start.

"Delhi Capitals could have opened with Rahane but they opened with Stoinis. So it was a new opening combination of Marcus Stoinis and Shikhar Dhawan. And it was a powerful performance. They scored 65 runs in the first 6 overs, so the powerplay was a proper powerplay."

That was a proper power-play in the powerplay overs. 65/0. #SRH out of their comfort zone. Waiting for one of Stoinis-Dhawan to throw it away now.... #IPL2020 #DCvSRH

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 8, 2020

The reputed commentator observed that the Delhi Capitals did not let the momentum slip after the powerplay overs, highlighting that the franchise looks a different team when Dhawan is amongst the runs.

"And they kept hitting after that as well. Shikhar Dhawan is playing amazingly well these days whenever he plays in a fearless fashion. When he plays well the Delhi Capitals become fearless suddenly."

He added that the Delhi Capitals openers did not allow the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers to throttle them, which is something the Orange Army have done often in this tournament.

"Shikhar batted very well. Marcus Stoinis had got a life early in the game but after that the pace they picked, they didn't allow Sunrisers Hyderabad to play their brand of cricket."

Aakash Chopra pointed out that Shimron Hetmyer gave the Delhi Capitals innings the finishing touches after the tone had been set by the openers.

"Whenever it seemed that it was slowing down a little, they kept the foot on the acceleartor and went even quicker. The new opening combination turned things around. After that Hetmyer also came and hit a lot."

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Aakash Chopra on Shreyas Iyer's excellent captaincy for the Delhi Capitals

Shreyas Iyer rotated the Delhi Capitals bowlers very well [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra lauded Shreyas Iyer for managing the Delhi Capitals bowlers very well and rotating them effectively.

"I am impressed with Shreyas Iyer's captaincy. The way he manoeuvred the bowlers, gave an over to Rabada in the middle, got Ashwin and Axar at certain stages, from one end and then the other end and used Nortje also well and knew how many overs to give to Dubey."

He acknowledged that the Delhi Capitals captain might have got his calculations slightly wrong by not giving Marcus Stoinis his full quota of overs.

"In the middle, I think he did miss a trick, that Stoinis could have bowled all his overs, he bowled only three instead of four."

Aakash Chopra signed off by stating that he gives Shreyas Iyer all the credit for the changes in the Delhi Capitals batting order and the handling of the bowling resources.

"But the changing of the batting order you can talk about the captain or the coach, I will go with the captain because it is the captain's team. Bowling changes, batting changes, whatever batting order and all of that, I will give whole credit to Shreyas Iyer."

With yesterday's win, the Delhi Capitals have made their maiden IPL final. They would like to make it even better by going all the way and denying the Mumbai Indians a record-extending fifth IPL title.

One. Final. Hurdle. 😎🔥Taiyyaar ho jaaiye, Dilliwalon ✊🏻#Dream11IPL #YehHaiNayiDilli pic.twitter.com/JM80MmjLQF

— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from 🇦🇪) (@DelhiCapitals) November 9, 2020