Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
After heavy criticism, David Warner reveals reasons behind not bowling Axar Patel in DC vs GT IPL 2023 match
Warner's baffling decision of not bowling Axar at all drew criticism from all quarters, especially after GT reached home with 11 balls to spare.
David Warner's captaincy in the IPL 2023 match against Gujarat Titans was not up to the mark. Yes, it is easy to talk in hindsight but some of the decisions Warner took on Tuesday's Delhi Capitals' first home match of the season, had little chance of success. For starters, he did not give the new ball to his fastest bowler Anrich Nortje despite seeing what the pitch had offered for fast bowlers when DC were batting. GT openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill took full advantage of the lack of pace on offer from Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar and raced to 22 in the first two overs in their 163-run chase.
Warner turned to Nortje, who landed in India on Monday, in the third over and the lanky South African struck in his first ball. The extra pace and inward movement brought about the downfall of Saha. Nortje then removed the in-from Gill with a similar sort of delivery that kept a tad lower than what the GT opener expected.
“I think the bowling selection was incorrect,” said RP Singh on Jio. “They played with few pacers, Mitchell Marsh was their fourth pacer against a team that has a battery of pacers. At the start, I felt they should start with Nortje. There was a mistake in the captaincy, as Nortje proved his impact by taking wickets in his first over. That shows that you were thinking you have to extend the game when you should’ve stopped the game right there. The best bowler should get his duties at the right time. So, they made a mistake with the selection by taking too many pacers and then incorrectly rotating their best available pacers.”
Khaleel then removed GT skipper Hardik Pandya in the last ball of the powerplay to set the match up beautifully. GT still needed 107 runs off 14 overs with seven wickets in hand.
Watch: Kohli shouts 'helmet pe maar iske' after Rohit's single in unseen video
Warner had world-class spin options in Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel to further choke the GT middle-order. While he did introduce Kuldeep into the attack, he chose the medium pace of Mitchell Marsh over Axar Patel. What surprised many was that Warner did not use Axar Patel at all in the entire match even when GT clawed their way back into the chase through Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar.
Warner's baffling decision of not bowling Axar at all drew criticism from all quarters, especially after GT reached home with 11 balls to spare. The DC captain, however, defended his decision by saying that it was a tactical call based on match-ups. "Just purely because of the wicket and the match-ups. We thought Kuldeep would be effective and we had Mitch Marsh," Warner said.
When asked about the struggles of the DC top-order, the left-hander said they did not expect the ball to do so much early on.
“It swung more than I anticipated. Losing wickets in the powerplay can be a struggle. They showed us how to adapt to the situation and it was a learning experience for us. We have got six more games here and anticipate the swing upfront. They bowled extremely well. We were in the game but Sai batted extremely well and David Miller took it away.”
