'Won't give him even 5 out of 10': Virender Sehwag rates Rishabh Pant's poor captaincy in DC vs RCB IPL 2021 match

Former India opener Virender Sehwag said he would not even give 5 marks to Rishabh Pant's captaincy against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL 2021 match Ahmedabad. Rating Pant's poor captaincy, Sehwag said 'you can't make such mistakes'.

Former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag minced no words while sharing his thoughts on Delhi Capitals' Rishabh Pant's captaincy against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match no. 22 in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. Despite half-centuries from Pant (58*) and Shimron Hetmyer (53*), DC failed to pull off a 172-run chase and lost the game by just 1 run.

Virender Sehwag criticised Rishabh Pant's captaincy in DC vs RCB IPL 2021 match

Sehwag lashed out at the young DC skipper for not utilising his main bowlers properly against RCB and said he won't even give 5 marks out of 10 to Pant for his captaincy.

“I won’t give him even five marks out of 10 for his captaincy because you just can’t make such mistakes. If your main bowler isn’t bowling, your calculations go wrong – that’s what captaincy is all about. You need to take care of that. A captain must manage his bowling resources according to the situation.

“You need to learn that. Or else you hand over the ball to whomsoever you want. The capability of a skipper is measured by how he turns the game around. He needs to make changes in the bowling or field position accordingly,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

Sehwag further opined that Rishabh Pant needs to play smart cricket if he wants to be a smart captain.

“So, if Rishabh Pant wants to become a good captain, he needs to keep these small things in his mind. Play smart cricket, then only you can become a smart skipper,” he added.

The former India dashing opener said he would give Pant's captaincy 3 out of 10.

Meanwhile, former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra highlighted DC’s poor planning in their chase, blaming Pant’s slow batting in the middle overs for their loss.

Notably, both Pant (58* off 48) and Hetmyer (53* off 25) slammed fifties and remained unbeaten but failed to take DC over the line.

“The way Rishabh batted in the middle overs and the number of runs he missed out on during the death overs, that was nothing but a poor strategy. If Shimron Hetmyer had lost his wicket early, we could have seen DC losing by 25 runs.

“They planned their chase poorly as two of your set batsmen returned unbeaten and you lost the game by 1 run. That shouldn’t have happened in this format,” Nehra said.