Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has revealed why he gave Tom Curran the last over against Chennai Super Kings at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
13 runs were needed off the final over and Pant decided to back the English bowler ahead of Kagiso Rabada.
Curran had conceded 16 runs in his three overs before the final over and had also picked two wickets and thus as he was having a good day with the ball, Pant decided to back him. The English bowler started on a good note as he dismissed Moeen Ali on the first ball he bowled.
However, Curran was not able to hold his nerve against MS Dhoni who got two boundaries on the second and third ball. Curran then bowled a wide and the fourth ball was also smashed for a four for the winning runs by the veteran batter.
In fact, Curran was only playing his third match of the season and most of the cricket pundits think that it would have been a wise decision had Kagiso Rabada, who has been a consistent performer for Delhi Capitals, bowled the last over.
Rabada conceded only 23 runs in his three overs and had bowled well after his first over had gone for 14 runs. The Proteas gun fast bowler has scalped 13 wickets in 14 matches of the ongoing season and he has bowled with an economy rate of 8.32
Rishabh Pant said in the post-match presentation, “Obviously it’s very disappointing, don’t have enough words to describe how we are feeling right now. The only thing we can do is rectify our mistakes and move on to the next one. I thought that Tom bowled beautifully throughout the match, last over unfortunately went for runs. I thought the bowler who is having a great day, it’s better to use him for the last over.
I thought the score was decent but they got off to a flier in the powerplay and we didn’t get enough wickets and that was the main difference. As a cricketer, we are going to rectify our mistakes, gonna learn from it and move on to the next one. Hopefully, we can win and play the final”.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant is still young in his captaincy career and he is expected to learn with experience. Delhi Capitals will now face the winner of the Eliminator match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier.
