Team India faced a 7-wicket loss on its return to international action against South Africa in the first T20I of the five-match series in Delhi. The Proteas chased down a 212-run target with five balls to spare, thanks to blistering knocks from Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller. Following the game, Rishabh Pant, who led India for the first time, came under significant scrutiny for his captaincy decision during the chase.
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Pant didn't complete Yuzvendra Chahal's full quota of overs, giving him only two until the 19th over of the innings. The wicketkeeper-batter brought Chahal for the final over but by then, the game was already in South Africa's bag with the side needing merely four more runs to win. Chahal is enjoying a phenomenal run with the ball, and ended as the highest wicket-taker in the recently-concluded 2022 Indian Premier League.
Former India bowler Zaheer Khan also expressed his surprise at the call from Pant.
“I felt not using Chahal's full quota, on the hindsight, is definitely something which Rishabh will look at. Team management will have a conversation around it. You've seen Chahal having a tough day but having the ability to come back and give a breakthrough. Indian team required to bring the next batter in. So, it was a call that was in your hands,” Zaheer said about the decision on Cricbuzz.
{{/usCountry}}“I felt not using Chahal's full quota, on the hindsight, is definitely something which Rishabh will look at. Team management will have a conversation around it. You've seen Chahal having a tough day but having the ability to come back and give a breakthrough. Indian team required to bring the next batter in. So, it was a call that was in your hands,” Zaheer said about the decision on Cricbuzz.
{{/usCountry}}“You can control who is going to bowl. In hindsight, the Indian team and Rishabh will try and analyze the game and see what they could've done differently. Maybe Axar's last over, which went for runs, gave Rishabh the signal that spin is not the option right now and he didn't look at that direction. But the ability of Chahal is greater than that,” the former Indian cricketer further said.
Zaheer further said that Chahal could've made a difference when the required rate was towering for South Africa.
“The 12 balls he could've bowled at a stage when Rassie and Miller had to go hard at bowlers... he could've created an opportunity there. If a wicket was taken at that stage, the game would've been differen,” said Zaheer.