Second half blues for Delhi Daredevils

For a team that last reached the play-offs in 2012 and had been languishing at the bottom-half of the table over the last three seasons, Delhi Daredevils needed a fresh template and the GMR-owned team had a new-look at the start of the season. Marquee players, Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews, were released, the experienced Zaheer Khan was made captain. Rahul Dravid was named mentor with Paddy Upton — the mental conditioning coach who had worked with Dravid at Rajasthan Royals. Youth came in the form of Shreyas Iyer, who was retained, Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant, and they were complemented by the likes of established performers such as Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite.

By the half-way stage, they had climbed to the second spot with five wins from seven games. In the remaining seven games, though, they could manage only two wins, and Monday’s loss to Bangalore ended their play-off prospects. Here’s a look at some of the factors that stalled Delhi.