Ajay Jadeja felt that Rishabh Pant went from attacking to a defensive style of captaincy in the game against RR. The former India player said that DC could’ve attacked a little more with his frontline bowlers when RR were five-down.
Delhi Capitals (DC) lost their first game of the season against Rajasthan Royals (RR). David Miller’s stunning 62 and some fierce hitting at the end from Chris Morris who struck four sixes in the last two overs and some poor death bowling from the Delhi bowlers helped Rajasthan get over the line.
The DC bowlers were excellent upfront as they blew away the RR top-order. Chris Woakes, Kagiso Rabada and Avesh Khan reduced the Sanju Samson-led side to 42/5 in the 10th over. Ajay Jadeja felt that DC should’ve gone for the kill by bowling their frontline bowlers at that stage.
RR needed 90 runs in the last eight overs. Instead of bowling Ravichandran Ashwin’s fourth straight over, Rishabh Pant went to Marcus Stoinis and Tom Curran in the 13th and 14th over respectively. The two overs cost 27 runs as the momentum shifted towards RR. DC did pick a couple of wickets but Chris Morris’ struck some lusty blows as the DC bowlers missed their yorkers and went the distance.
Thus, Jadeja said that the game tilted in the 13th over when the Delhi brought on Stoinis and Curran in the middle overs. Pant’s captaincy style went from attacking to defensive and that was the mistake, according to Jadeja.
That over [13th, by Marcus Stoinis] kickstarted the chase for Rajasthan Royals. Before it, the scoreboard read 55-5. [Kagiso] Rabada, Avesh Khan, Chris Woakes, and R Ashwin, all main bowlers had bowled their 3 overs. When they were bowling, the game was different. I believe you should have bowled your main bowlers some more. The game began to tilt in that over. The mistake was that he [Rishabh Pant] switched to defensive style from attacking. It’s not weird (preserving one over of Ashwin) but it’s a big error. You allowed them to come back into the game by bowling Stoinis and Tom Curran in the middle overs,
Ajay Jadeja was quoted saying on Cricbuzz Live after DC’s final over loss against RR.
Delhi next face Punjab Kings on the 18th of April at the Wankhede Stadium. They will have Anrich Nortje available for the game as the South African pacer has returned with three negative COVID-19 reports.
