Delhi Capitals (DC) lost their third match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. In a high-scoring run chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, Capitals lost too many wickets in the middle overs and fell short of the target by 17 runs. Mitchell Marsh, who made his debut for the Delhi franchise, struggled to time the ball and scored just 14 runs from 24 deliveries. While Pant accepted that it was one of the factors that contributed to the loss, he did not blame the Aussie all-rounder.
“I think Warner batted beautifully and gave us every chance to win the match. Can't blame Marsh, it was his first match and looked a bit rusty, but we could have done better in the middle overs,” Pant said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
While Marsh’s slow knock was highlighted, another overseas recruit of DC has not been performing well despite several chances. Caribbean batter Rovman Powell got out for a golden duck to Josh Hazlewood and contributed to the mini-collapse before the slog overs.
However, the target could have been much smaller if not for Dinesh Karthik’s hitting in the slog overs. Karthik targetted DC’s fast-bowling spearhead, Mustafizur Rahman. The wicketkeeper-batter hit Mustafizur for 28 runs in the 18th over which helped RCB post 189/5.
“The wicket got better and better as the innings went along, that over from Mustafizur was a game-changer for us. I think we could bowl according to our plans, but we were under the pump, the way DK batted in the later overs was commendable,” the DC skipper added.
Pant also explained why he changed Kuldeep’s bowling end and it helped the leggie get the wicket of Glenn Maxwell after getting hit for 23 runs in his first over.
“One boundary length was shorter and every batter was targeting it, so I changed Kuldeep's end and he bowled really well. We will have to talk about doing better as a team, we'll have to learn from our mistakes in the coming games,” he concluded.
