T20 Cricket has evolved beyond the understanding of usual comprehension, and it has become a hallmark of sorts on how captions and coaches use their resources, which eventually decides the final outcome. In such an extreme situation, Shubman Gill decided to hold R Sai Kishore back against Delhi Capitals on April 24 (Wednesday), with two left-handers, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel, batting in the middle.
Was that a decision fraught with excessive overthinking from the captain's perspective? R Sai Kishore, who gave away 22 runs in that over, wouldn’t have any of it and stated that it was a call taken, keeping the situation in mind.
“You have to put yourself in the shoes of the captain and the coach and how they'll be thinking. If I was leading the side and if there was some other spinner or some other bowler whom you feel there could be an extra chance for scoring, maybe you'd be slightly hesitant,” Sai Kishore said in the post-match press conference.
"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. It also depends on the ground dimensions. Say we are playing on a slightly slower wicket with bigger boundaries. Last game, I bowled the 19th over with two lefties...
“I really felt it was not a thing to be worried about. Ashish Nehra is big on having no egos on the side. And every call is taken for the team's success, and as a player, you should also be able to take it,” the Tamil Nadu spinner added.
In IPL history, the 97 runs that Delhi Capitals scored in the last five overs is the second-most runs scored by a side in that phase. That virtually tilted the game in their favor, and it took a crazy David Miller innings, apart from cameos from Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore, to make the game interesting.
“Axar and Pant batted well, they got that momentum, and in the last few overs, we conceded more sixes than fours, and that resulted in the game slightly going out of hand.
"The best part about this team is the belief that everyone carries. I think a lot of these things are out of control. We just try to ensure that how we are playing is taken care of and be emotionally detached from the result.”