Dubai, Oct 11: Chennai Super Kings required 13 runs from the final over to win Qualifier 1 of IPL 2021 against Delhi Capitals in Dubai on Sunday night. With Kagiso Rabada left with one over, DC captain Rishabh Pant opted to give the ball to Tom Curran who was playing his first game of the UAE leg. In that over, Tom Curran removed Moeen Ali but Dhoni held the nerves and smashed three fours to seal the CSK’s spot in the summit clash for the ninth time.
When asked about this choice by the skipper to not bowl Rabada, Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting said that decision was down to the gut feeling of Rishabh Pant and also stated that Tom Curran will have a good learning experience from that last over. “I haven’t had a chance to ask the captain that yet. Obviously, those calls are made on the field,” said Delhi’s head coach Ricky Ponting while addressing the media soon after the match.
“And Tom had bowled his first three 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. 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,” he added.
Another of those decisions in a tight game, also involved Pant and Curran. But this time with the bat in hand was the former’s decision to farm the strike in the final over resulting in three dot balls and Delhi finishing with 172. (ANI)
