NEWS
Follow UsRight after Prithvi Shaw’s dismissal, Delhi Capitals sprung a surprise by sending Axar Patel to bat at No.4 and that turned out to be a masterstroke. The batter, who has been facing injury concerns, brushed all doubts aside to take on every single bowler who came his way and scored a 43-ball 66 that propelled Delhi to a humongous score.
But what was the logic behind promoting him despite the presence of the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shai Hope, and Tristan Stubbs? Delhi’s assistant coach, Pravin Amre, revealed that the move was designed to upset Gujarat’s plans of using Sai Kishore in the middle overs.
“If you remember last year, he was the one striking the ball very well. The plan was that they had Sai Kishore bowling in the PowerPlay and we wanted a batter taking him on,” Amre said in the post-match press conference.
“Porel started well against the Punjab Kings, scoring a 10-ball 30. He is striking well. But, as a batting unit, it’s important all batters score and Axar did not have a big knock yet. Porel can bat at the top and down the order, so we wanted to use him as a finisher,” the coach said.
Amre was also all praise for Rishabh Pant and how well he has acclimatised to the situation despite staying away from the sport for more than a year after the horrific car accident in Roorkee in December 2022.
"I remember his first day when he came to the Vizag camp, he went straight to the ground from the airport. He was hungry, he made sure that he was going to utilise every day. And you can see all his hard work is paying off. A couple of good knocks gave him the confidence, and today's was special. He single-handedly got 31 runs against an experienced bowler like Mohit Sharma in the 20th over and that really shows that he is in good form," he concluded.
With four wins from nine games, Delhi Capitals have broken through from their second-last position and are currently placed at the sixth position on the points table.
