Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has probed Rishabh Pant after Delhi Capitals’ loss against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Monday (April 29).
KKR thrashed DC by seven wickets to win again and strengthen their playoff chances. DC captain Rishabh Pant surprised many with his decision to bat first at a venue where teams had chased huge totals like 224 and 262 in recent games.
Before reaching Kolkata, DC had won their last two games batting first and decided to bat first against KKR as well. However, the decision backfired spectacularly as the Delhi-based team was vastly outclassed by the local team.
Summary of the match in summary:
Batting first, the Rishabh Pant-led team could only manage 153/9 in the allotted 20 overs. DC lost the wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Shai Hope within the powerplay and simply could not recover. At one stage, they were reeling at 111 for 8 before an unbeaten 35-run knock from Kuldeep Yadav guided them to a respectable 153.
In response, KKR went for the total with the greatest of ease. In-form opener Phil Salt put them to sleep by smashing a 26-ball fifty and sharing a 79-run stand in just 37 balls with Sunil Narine for the first wicket. KKR finally crossed the finish line in the 17th over to once again register their sixth win in nine games this season.
Irfan Pathan is not impressed with DC:
As Rishabh Pant and his DC teammates could not justify the decision to bat first, Irfan Pathan made it clear that he was not impressed with the ball. The former cricketer took to X (formerly Twitter) to analyze Rishabh Pant’s decision to bat first and wrote:
“I’m still trying to understand the reason why Delhi batted first.”
I am still trying to understand the reason why Delhi batted first.
—Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 29, 2024
Rishabh Pant batting first:
Speaking at the end of the game, Rishabh Pant spoke about his decision to bat first after winning the toss. He called it a good option before lamenting his batsmen’s failure to deliver the bat.
“It was a good option to bat first. As a batting unit we didn’t bat well, 150 was below how things were going. But we learn from our mistakes, every day is not your day.” said Rishabh Pant.
“The way we were going as a team was good (winning 4 of their last 5 games), but these games happen in T20. I think any result around 180-210 would have been a good score, we didn’t give our bowlers enough runs to defend”, he added.