The Kolkata Knight Riders endured their fifth-successive loss in the 2022 Indian Premier League on Thursday. They were defeated by the Delhi Capitals, who did a double on Shreyas Iyer's men with a four-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium. After being restricted to 146/9 in 20 overs, the KKR did well to make a game out of the menial run-chase, but Rovman Powell's late cameo ensured the Capitals a victory with an over to spare. Follow IPL 2022 Coverage
Kuldeep Yadav was immense for the Capitals against his former franchise with the ball, as he registered figures of 4/14 in three overs. However, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar was left perplexed by KKR's decision to send Nitish Rana late in the batting order. The left-handed batter – one of the players in sublime form for the Knight Riders – came to bat at number six.
“Nitish Rana, he's batting well. But he was down at number 5 (6), maybe he has been given the role of a finisher. When you have Andre Russell as a finisher, why do you want Nitish Rana doing the same job?” Gavaskar questioned during the post-match show on Star Sports.
“Rana has been batting so well, he's finding the middle of the bat. He has to bat up the order. You can't have him batting at three because (Shreyas) Iyer is there, so have him bat at four. Sending him to bat late in the order today.. it doesn't make any sense because it meant they lost the value of those overs.”
{{/usCountry}}“Rana has been batting so well, he's finding the middle of the bat. He has to bat up the order. You can't have him batting at three because (Shreyas) Iyer is there, so have him bat at four. Sending him to bat late in the order today.. it doesn't make any sense because it meant they lost the value of those overs.”
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar further said that the “man in form” has to play as many deliveries as possible.
“It is so important to have the man in form to face more deliveries so he can score more runs for the team, it is as simple as that,” the batting legend added.
The Knight Riders will return to action on May 2 when they face the high-flying Rajasthan Royals.