Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting has opened up about Rishabh Pant’s decision to opt with Tom Curran over Kagiso Rabada to bowl the final over in the Qualifier 1 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai.
With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needed 13 runs from the last 6 balls to win Qualifier 1 on Sunday, October 10, Delhi Capitals (DC) could have sent Rabada to bowl the final over, but the DC captain Pant decided to give the ball to Curran, considering his performance in the early overs.
Well, Tom Curran bowled brilliantly, as the England bowler removed Moeen Ali in the first ball of the final over, but couldn’t stop MS Dhoni from hitting three fours to seal the game for CSK by 4 wickets with 2 balls to spare against DC on Sunday in Dubai.
With the thrilling win, CSK made it to the IPL 2021 final for the ninth time, while DC will have to beat the winner of the Eliminator between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to reach the final of the ongoing tournament.
After the end of the IPL 14 clash, Ponting said the decision was down to the gut feeling of Pant on the field. The coach also said it will be a good learning experience for Tom, who returned with impressive figures of 3/29 in his first game of the second leg of the tournament in the UAE.
Ponting said at the post-match press conference, “I haven't had a chance to ask the captain that yet. Obviously, those calls are made on the field. And Tom had bowled his first 3 overs for 16, had bowled really, really well, and done a good job. So that's down to the gut feel of the captain in the middle at that time. And Rishabh obviously thought that Tom was the right man to bowl that last over on the back of how well he had already bowled in the game.”
He added, “It didn't pay off for us tonight. I think it will be a good learning experience for Tom again. He can work out how he can get better at closing that last over out a little bit better. But we'll get back to the rooms tonight and have a bit of a debrief with the players. And certainly have a chat with Rishabh about all the tactics that happened in the game. Because that's what we generally do. Win, lose or draw, we look deep into what we've done on the field and see ways we can improve for the next game.”
On Pant’s another decision to farm the strike with Curran in the final over, resulting in three dot balls with DC finishing with 172, Ponting noted: “After the first run that he didn't take, I think the bowling coach James Hopes turned to me and said 'I think we should be taking every run we can get now.' I said let's just wait till the end of the over and make our judgment then.”
The DC head coach continued, “I think Rishabh is going to back himself more often than not. Tom Curran had faced only one or two balls since he had been at the crease and he was probably going to find it harder to find the boundaries. So look, Rishabh is the captain and he's trying to make those decisions on the run and that was a decision he made tonight.”
The former Australian captain also admitted that DC was surprised with CSK’s decision to play Shardul Thakur at No. 4.
He said, “I think we all were a bit surprised when we saw him go out there. But if you looked at the scoreboard at that stage, it was pretty evident what they were trying to do - send out a pinch hitter, let him try and take on the spin. And Tom Curran was bowling at that time, cash in on a couple of cheap runs which would have pushed them a long way ahead in the run rate.”
(With ANI Inputs)
