Former Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra was left baffled by the batting strategy of Rishabh Pant’s team in their crucial encounter versus the Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday.
The Capitals were shaken right at the start when David Warner was dismissed for a golden duck by Liam Livingstone. However, Sarfaraz Khan, opening for this game, and number 3 Mitchell Marsh accelerated in the powerplay to make full use of the field restrictions despite Warner’s wicket and took DC to 59/2 at the 6-over mark with Sarfaraz getting out just before the end of the powerplay.
Some tight overs to Marsh and Lalit Yadav saw the run rate slow down before the latter was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh and the score read 98/3 at the 11-over mark.
While the wickets fell down and there was still plenty of time left in the innings, Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell went down swinging and lost their wickets, making Amit Misra confused and upset.
Pant hit a six to Livingstone. But looking to go big again he stepped down the track and was stumped – out for just 7.
This was followed by another mindless slog from Rovman Powell; Livingstone, who had been bowling off-spin to the left-handers now smartly bowled leg-spin to the right-handed Powell who slogged with all his might. But with the ball turning away from him, on a turning pitch, mistimed his shot and was caught at long-off. And suddenly, in a space of three overs, DC had lost two key men and their two key finishers.
Amit Mishra, the legendary spinner who was with Delhi from 2015 to 2021 before going unsold this year, took to Twitter to express his puzzlement at DC’s batting.
“What is the hurry Delhi Capitals? You have lost wickets quickly, there are overs left and you are still going after hitting sixes. Will never understand this strategy or I don’t know if there is any strategy at all,” tweeted Mishra, who has 166 IPL wickets to his name.
What is the hurry Delhi Capitals? You have lost wickets quickly, there are overs left and you are still going after hitting sixes. Will never understand this strategy or I don’t know if there is any strategy at all. #PBKSvsDC
— Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) May 16, 2022
Mitchell Marsh and Axar Patel dragged the total to 159, which eventually proved 17 more than what Punjab could manage as Thakur, Axar and Kuldeep shared 9 PBKS wickets between them.
With this win now, Rishabh Pant’s side has 14 points in 13 games and have displaced RCB at the fourth position in the points table. With their healthy net run rate, a win in their last match is likely to take them through even if RCB who have a poor nrr win their last match.
