Former Indian fast bowler Mohit Sharma heaped praise on Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy after KKR registered a comprehensive 29-run win against Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday. Sharma said Rahane made the most of his bowling resources after Matheesha Pathirana had to leave the field due to a hamstring injury.
The Sri Lankan seamer played his first match of the season after making a comeback from injury. However, he felt discomfort in hamstring while bowling his second over. He could only bowl 1.2 overs and then the rest of his overs were covered by Cameron Green, Saurabh Dubey, and Anukul Roy.
Mohit Sharma said on Cricbuzz, “Overall, if I talk about filling the gap left by Pathirana, that responsibility was on Dubey and Cameron Green. Both of them fulfilled that role brilliantly. And the tactical changes made according to the situation by Ajinkya Rahane were all praiseworthy.
“That’s why, many times when your main professional player goes off the field, it takes multiple players to fill that one role. The bowling attack suddenly starts looking stretched. You could see that Anukul Roy was used, then Cameron Green was used, and even Dubey was brought in. So, it took three players together to cover that role,” he added.
Sharma added the pressure falls on the captain as he has to decide how he has to rotate the rest of the overs when a bowler is injured.
“After that, the pressure falls on the captain because he has to figure out how to rotate the overs. You’re not sure whether Cameron Green can bowl more after two overs or not. But today, he took responsibility. He bowled the third over in the 20th over and bowled well.”
The former GT bowler said everyone had huge expectations from Matheesha Pathirana as he was making a comeback after injury layoff.
He concluded, “Everyone had huge expectations from after such a long comeback, gets injured. The whole world was waiting to see him return and perform well for KKR. He bowled the first over, and then on the second ball of his second over, he suffered a hamstring injury and had to walk off the field.”
Kolkata Knight Riders will next take on Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Wednesday.
