Rishabh Pant blames top-order's powerplay overs approach for Delhi Capitals' loss to Mumbai Indians, explains what bowlers did wrong

Arun Rawal

• Sun • 07 Apr 2024

Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant after losing his wicket (Getty Images)

Highlights:

Rishabh Pant was dismissed for a single-digit score in the run chase against Mumbai Indians.

Pant feels that the bowlers should have used more variations against MI's big-hitters.

Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant blamed the top-order for an underwhelming start in the powerplay overs of the run chase against Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium.

DC lost the match by 29 runs despite Tristan Stubbs’ whirlwind unbeaten 25-ball 71. In the run chase of 235, DC had 46 runs on the board after powerplay overs. David Warner departed after scoring 10 runs from eight balls. Prithvi Shaw accelerated with Abhishek Porel at the other end but they got a below par score during the fielding restrictions.

“Definitely we were in contention, but we didn't have enough runs in the batting powerplay, especially when you're chasing such a big score., We batted well in the next few overs, but it's not easy to constantly score 15 rpo for many overs,” he said.

Pant points out pacers’ flaw

Pant was critical of his pacers as well. He felt that they needed to use variations when MI batters were going after them. Experienced Anrich Nortje was taken to the cleaners by Romario Shepherd who scored 32 runs in the last over to take the score to 234/5.

“Yes, we had a few bad overs, but it does happen at times. The bowlers needed to bowl into the wicket, slower ones and the variations were important. The bowlers needed to understand the conditions well. I think we need to improve on a few areas - death-over bowling and our batting as well,” the wicketkeeper-batter said.

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The southpaw was unimpressive in the run chase. He sent Stubbs ahead of them which turned out to be an ideal move. However, coming to bat at no.5 in the 16th over, he lost his wicket to Gerald Coetzee in an attempt to play an unorthodox shot. He scored just one run from three balls.

DC drop to the bottom

With their fourth win from five games, DC slipped to the bottom of the points table as their net run rate (NRR) is inferior to MI and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). DC's next game is against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Ekana Cricket Stadium on April 12.

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