Aakash Chopra has questioned Rishabh Pant’s choice to bat first in the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) IPL 2024 loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The Delhi team scored a low 153/9 after choosing to set a target in Kolkata on Monday, April 29. The home team easily chased the target with seven wickets and 21 balls to spare to climb into second place on the points table.
Chopra, who reviewed the game in a video posted on his YouTube channel, was startled by the Delhi Capitals’ inability to read the Eden Gardens pitch despite having Sourav Ganguly in their camp.
“Who bats first after winning the toss? I am not being too critical but I have to talk about it if it’s the truth. The team winning the toss has batted first only two times in the last 30 matches here, and whoever did that lost. It’s not that you always win while chasing but no one bats first in Kolkata.”
Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra added:
“Whatever happens, the batting becomes slightly easier later but Delhi said they would bat first. I was surprised. If Sourav Ganguly couldn’t read this pitch, who could have? This pitch is like the back of his palm. You know all of it, so it wasn’t understandable.”
Aakash Chopra
The Capitals have won their past two games when batting first in Delhi. Those results may have enticed Rishabh Pant and colleagues to set a target even in Kolkata.
“I was very surprised” – Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant’s batting approach
Rishabh Pant’s way of hitting the ball confused Aakash Chopra. It was not how most players bat.
“Four wickets fell quickly and then you hoped captain Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel would take their team out of troubled waters. However, I was very surprised. Rishabh – you cannot bat like that. It seemed like he was trying to do something different off every ball. He tried to play the same shot multiple times.”
“A catch was dropped, it didn’t hit his bat once, but he said that he wouldn’t even listen to himself once he had committed, and he got out. He has gotten out to Varun Chakaravarthy twice in two games. Very, very surprising, the way he was batting. We have seen Pant playing much better than that.”
Aakash Chopra
Harshit Rana dropped Rishabh Pant at short third man after he top edged an attempted hoick off Varun Chakaravarthy’s bowling. He attempted a similar hit in the KKR spinner’s following over, but was caught by Shreyas Iyer at extra cover.