Kuldeep Yadav's game-changing four-fer and crucial runs from David Warner and Rovman Powell helped Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (April 28). While Kuldeep won the 'Player of the Match' award for his 4/14, many were perplexed by skipper Rishabh Pant's choice to not bowl the wrist-spinner for his fourth over.
Rishabh, 24, has been chastised in the past for bad shot selection, and many have begun to doubt his tactical abilities. In the game against the Rajasthan Royals, he also faced the brunt of his enraged reaction to the no-ball incident. While assistant coach Shane Watson tried to talk him out in the bench, he summoned back the batters in the middle, Kuldeep and Powell before telling the assistant coach Pravin Amre to talk to the umpires.
Pant did not use Chetan Sakariya's fourth over either in the match against KKR. The left-arm pacer only bowled three overs and gave away 17 runs for one wicket.
After the game, former England captain Michael Vaughan emphasised Pant's captaincy flaws, saying the Delhi captain needed honest feedback on his failures. He directed the young wicketkeeper-batter, who is still developing as a leader, to talk to Ricky Ponting, the head coach.
"I hear that expression all the time (about a captain's innings). It shouldn't be a captain's innings but just an innings... an innings that the game requires you to play at that particular moment. He (Pant) owed his team an innings with the way he captained. I'm not going to keep picking on him but he's a young captain who needs to learn.
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"Yes, you win, you celebrate and talk to your team because you have got those two points. But I hope he is sensible enough to analyze and go into his room, and bring Ricky Ponting in and some other coaches to ask for honest feedback," Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
"It's the way you learn as a captain. It's not being aggressive to Rishabh and telling him 'You must do this' but really good captains at their infancy stages ask for advice for their tactics. He (Pant) isn't getting the right information if one of them at least doesn't sit with him and say, 'Rishabh you've got that wrong'. He had a chance to get his team over the line but didn't manage to do that either. Not a great night for Rishabh but he got the two points," he further added.
In the post-match presentation, Pant justified his decision to not present Kuldeep with another over by saying, “I thought we would give him (Kuldeep) his final over from the other end but then the ball kept getting wet and I also wanted to change the pace, that's why I brought the fast bowlers in but it didn't work."
Pant bowled part-timer Lalit Yadav for three overs, including two in the slog overs before switching to his seam bowlers.
(With Hindustan Times inputs)
