West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite questioned Delhi Capitals’ bowling tactics after they suffered a six-wicket loss against Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday. Brathwaite slammed DC’s captain Axar Patel’s choice of bowlers in the Powerplay overs.
Patel employed himself, Auqib Nabi, T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar in the first six overs. However, DC bowlers were taken to the cleaners by PBKS opening duo of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya.
The right and left-hand batting pair smashed 116 runs in the Powerplay overs, which is the second highest score in the first six overs in the IPL.
Carlos Brathwaite said on ESPN Cricinfo, “When you bat and score 200-and-a-lot, you don’t need to be necessarily defensive but have a mindset that ‘this can be scored’. I saw Natarajan bowl just one over in the powerplay. They could have been a little bit more proactive.
“Get Kuldeep on. He may not get a wicket but he may stem the flow of runs for an over. Natarajan took the pitch out of play. If Natarajan and Kuldeep had bowled three out of the six, and PBKS had scored 65 in the powerplay, PBKS would have so much more to do,” Brathwaite added.
Brathwaite, who is known for hitting four sixes in the last over the 2016 T20 World Cup final against England, added the blistering start allowed PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer to take his team at the start. Iyer went on to score a match-winning knock of 71 runs off 36 balls.
He added, “They did so much in the powerplay that when Shreyas came in, he could be eight off his first eight balls. That would never be possible if you need to score 19 or 20 per over, then everybody has to come in and go.”
In the same discussion, former Indian wicket-keeper bat Deep Dasgupta praised Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh for their outstanding opening alliance of 126 runs off just 41 balls in the run-chase of 265.
“Would you call that hitting? They were playing normal cricket shots. The moment you say hitting, the connotation is that they’re playing fancy shots, trying too hard, trying to muscle. But the beauty about that opening pair was about how easy they made it look.”
“Would you call that hitting? They were playing normal cricket shots. The moment you say hitting, the connotation is that they’re playing fancy shots, trying too hard, trying to muscle. But the beauty about that opening pair was about how easy they made it look.”
Punjab Kings will next face Rajasthan Royals at New Chandigarh on Tuesday.
