Sangakkara hints at changes in Deccan squad for Delhi game

With Deccan Chargers needing to win all its remaining five matches to stay alive in the ongoing Indian Premier League, captain Kumar Sangakkara on Wednesday hinted at making changes in the squad for their crucial match against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday.

With just three wins under its belt from nine games, Deccan are in a spot of bother at the seventh position in the team standings and a desperate Sangakkara said "calculated and intelligent changes" is the need of the hour.

"Changes have to happen in the team at any stage, especially in a tournament like the IPL because you have to get certain kind of rhythm. At the same time, to break bad habits you cannot keep going with an unchanged side," the Sri Lankan said ahead of his side's battle for survival against another struggling team - the Daredevils.

"Sometimes, the induction of a new player might kickstart what we need. So changes at any time are necessary.

"We have been making changes in the team according to the opposition and the wicket. This is going to be no different but drastic changes is not the way to go about it. Calculated and intelligent changes are the way to go," Sangakkara added.

He also admitted that from here on every match is a do-or-die battle for Deccan.

"Yeah, we have our backs to the walls. We have to win all the matches that we play now," Sangakkara said.

The skipper added that though the team has competent players up its disposal, it has not been able to come up with a collective effort so far in the tournament.

Sangakkara said irrespective of their position, the team needs to believe in itself and play with confidence in their remaining matches.

"We are a good team. Unfortunately, we have not able to convert that into winning performances regularly on the ground. We, probably, have the best bowling attack in IPL when it comes to pace and spin. We also have some very good local and international batsmen," he said.

"The only area where we lacked is all-round overall performance on regular basis. In T20, mistakes on the field can turn games and I think these are the areas we need to work on."