Team India had to face defeat by 7 wickets even after scoring 211 runs in the first T20 match against South Africa. With the help of brilliant batting from David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen, the target was achieved in 19.1 overs from this mountain. Rishabh Pant’s captaincy in the match was quite simple. He once again repeated the same mistakes that he made in IPL 2022 as the captain of Delhi Capitals (DC).
The highest wicket-taker for Delhi in IPL 2022 was Kuldeep Yadav. It was often seen that Pant did not get the full overs of his quota. He did the same in the first T20 against Africa. Just got two overs from Yuzvendra Chahal. Then bowled in the last over, when the team had drowned. Got four overs bowled by Axar Patel. The team also had to bear the brunt of it. Chahal gave 22 runs in the first two overs, but Axar also gave 40 runs in 4 overs.
Chahal bowled brilliantly for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022. He also did the Purple Cap in his name. In such a situation, he was the main bowler of the team. Former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan also raised questions on Yuji’s failure to complete his spell. The 43-year-old former fast bowler believes that Team India’s stand-in captain Pant made a mistake by not allowing Chahal to fulfill his quota of four overs. He said that even though the leg-spinner looked modest in the first few overs, he could have tilted the match in India’s favour.
Zaheer said on Cricbuzz, “Not getting the full over of Yuzvendra Chahal’s quota is definitely something that Rishabh Pant will talk to the team management about. We have seen them do this. We have seen that Chahal has had a tough day, but he has the potential to come back and bring success.”
The star of the 2011 World Cup victory revealed that Chahal has the ability to make a comeback after expensive overs. This is the reason why he feels Pant should have used him when Miller and Van Der Dussen were scoring runs against Team India’s batsmen. He said, “India had to bring in the next batsman to win the match. It was a decision that was in your hands. It may be that Axar Patel’s last over has made Pant feel that using spin is not the right option right now. But Chahal’s ability is much more than that.”