Karun Nair said that Delhi Capitals (DC) need to play with “freedom” to qualify for the playoffs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Earlier placed at the top, DC have slipped to fifth in the points after back-to-back losses to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The Capitals, led by Axar Patel, will return to action after a six-day break when they lock horns with Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 5 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Nair said that DC need to peak at the right time with the playoffs closing in.
“It’s about winning moments in the game. We’ve been doing that really well in most of the games that we’ve played, and are sitting in a decent position. But having said that, we need to go out there and play with a lot of freedom,” Karun said in the pre-match press conference.
“We’ve had a bit of a break just to have a reset. So we’ve had time as a team to go back to the things that we were doing well. It’s about peaking at the right time,” he said.
‘I am still batting well’
Nair also spoke about his form, saying that he has pretty much been on top of his game. After his 89 against Mumbai Indians in Delhi, Nair has got scores of 0, 31, 15, 4 and 15, but he’s happy to have played the cameos.
“I think I’m still batting well. It’s about converting those 20 runs to bigger scores. That’s where you can change matches for your team and making those 15 or 20 runs is also impactful sometimes,” Nair added.
The Capitals currently have 12 points and a net run rate of +0.362 thanks to wins in six out of 10 matches.