IPL 2021: Ajay Jadeja slams Rishabh Pant for not putting bowlers into proper use against RR

Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja was critical about the way Rishabh Pant controlled his bowlers in the match between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on Thursday. Chasing only 148, Rajasthan found themselves in deep trouble at 42 for 5 in the 10th over. But, managed to turn around the match, eventually winning a last-over thriller on the back of performances from David Miller and Chris Morris. 

According to Jadeja, Rishabh Pant made a mistake by not finishing the full quota of overs of Ravichandran Ashwin. Even though there was a bit of dew, Ashwin bowled the 7th, 9th, and 11 overs in the run-chase but gave only 14 runs. However, he was replaced by Marcus Stoinis for the 13th over. Miller attacked Stoinis and scored 15 runs off that over. After this, the momentum shifted slightly towards Rajasthan, when Delhi could have easily closed out the game. 

“That over [13th, by Marcus Stoinis] kickstarted the chase for Rajasthan Royals. Before it, the scoreboard read 55-5. [Kagiso] Rabada, Avesh Khan, Chris Woakes, and R Ashwin, all main bowlers had bowled their 3 overs. When they were bowling, the game was different. I believe you should have bowled your main bowlers some more. The game began to tilt in that over,” Ajay Jadeja said while speaking with Cricbuzz.

The mistake was that Rishabh Pant switched to defensive style from attacking: Ajay Jadeja

Jadeja added that the shift in the defensive mindset of Pant’s captaincy cost Delhi the match. The cricket expert also noted that Pant should not have used Stoinis and Curran in the middle overs, and could have reserved them for the death while the best bowlers bowl in the first 16 overs to keep the pressure on the Rajasthan batsmen. 

“The mistake was that he [Rishabh Pant] switched to defensive style from attacking. It’s not weird (preserving one over of Ashwin) but it’s a big error. You allowed them to come back into the game by bowling Stoinis and Tom Curran in the middle overs,” Ajay Jadeja opined. It was only after that Marcus Stoinis’ over that Rajasthan started attacking against the Delhi bowlers. Ashwin was not brought on the attack after that, as Chris Morris smashed Tom Curran for two sixes in the last over to win it for Rajasthan.

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