OPINION
Follow UsCaptaincy is judged primarily in hindsight. Not everything that goes into it happens on the field. In fact, it has become more pre-meditated in the times of data and match-ups. Considering the vast number of coaches every side carries, Delhi Capitals have three assistant coaches, you are not sure precisely what calls are taken by the captain in charge.
The right tactic might not find the best executions from the players. Weather, umpiring decisions, injuries. There are too many factors that deem raw numbers an unfit metric to judge cricket captains. Joe Root presents the perfect case. He holds the record for most Tests lost as well as most Tests won by an England captain.
Based on numbers alone, Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant is the fifth-best captain in the IPL history at present. He has won 56.6 percent of his games as captain. He is still in his early days as captain, having led the team in only 30 games as yet. There are 10 players who have captained their team in 30 matches or more.
But the jury is out to judge Rishabh Pant, the captain after two seasons. Can you blame them for being impatient? Probably yes. But, also no. Twice in two seasons, his decisions have been the talking point at a crucial stage for Delhi Capitals.
On Saturday night (May 21), Delhi placed themselves in a decent position in a do-or-die game. Mumbai needed 65 off 33 balls when Tim David walked out to bat. It was the make-or-break moment in the match. David could have raced Mumbai to a consolation win or slumped down their chances with an early return to the dugout. He was basically the match.
Foxed on his first ball, David edged it to Pant. The wicketkeeper was the first and the only man to recognise it but couldn’t convince the umpire. With no one sure about what to do, Pant decided against the review. The replays, a few minutes later, showed David edged it. David’s strokeplay, in a matter of nine balls, drew curtains on Delhi’s campaign. The opportunity knocked at Delhi’s door first but unfortunately, they didn’t respond.
“I thought there was something but everyone standing in the circle was not convinced. So I was asking should we go up. In the end, I didn't take the review,” Pant explained the decision post-match.
The conviction in the dismissal aside, it was a strategic blunder from the Delhi skipper. They had both reviews intact. With only 32 balls left in the match and David being the man in question, there was a strong case for sending that decision upstairs. Not to forget, Pant appealed right away. It could have been reviewed purely on game awareness.
In the next over, Pant reviewed an lbw call when the ball had pitched way outside the leg stump. The skipper wasn’t sure about this one either but gave in to the bowler’s persuasion. It was a response to the missed chance earlier. It was embarrassing. It gave a peek into Pant’s scrambled mind. It reminded of Tim Paine’s reckless reviews in the final moments of the Headingley Test in 2019.
Pant had dropped a sitter a few overs ago. Delhi had an awry start with the bat. But it is the image of Pant opting out of this review that will symbolise the end of Delhi’s campaign this year.
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Pant also said, “When we were on top of the game, we let it slip away from our grasp. That's one of the things we have been doing throughout the tournament.”
It is an accurate description of Delhi’s campaign that never took flight. Throughout the season, they failed to string together two wins until their penultimate game in the league stage. A few of them were down to strange captaincy from the 24-year-old. From not completing Kuldeep’s four-over spell when he is on top of the opposition to over bowling Lalit Yadav only for the match-ups’ sake, Pant struggled in handling his bowling resources. He made similar errors last year with R Ashwin not finishing his quota in favorable conditions and Marcus Stoinis bowling the last over against a well-set AB de Villiers.
The most notable error, as perceived, was opting for Tom Curran over Kagiso Rabada in Qualifier 1 against Chennai. It enabled MS Dhoni to muster Curran’s pedestrian pace and raze down the deficit in the final over. Dhoni could have scored those runs against Rabada as well but Delhi had a better chance with the South African speedster considering his high pace.
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As a batter too, the left-hander has looked burdened by captaincy. Last year, he appeared muddled about his batting approach. He tried to play the anchor. In Match 22 of IPL 2021, Pant strolled to a 58 off 48 balls, remaining unbeaten in a lost run-chase despite batting for 16 overs. In that season, he averaged 34.9 but at a below-par strike-rate of 128.5.
This year, he went to the opposite end of the batting spectrum. An average of 30.9 at a strike-rate of 151.8 gives a better reading until you realise he hasn’t scored a fifty throughout the season. Against Gujarat Titans, he opened the door for the opposition, succumbing to a reckless stroke when the deficit was well within reach. Having said that, it has been a while since Pant has justified his potential as a batter in IPL.
There is no doubt about the talent but he is still sorting out his game. He is in a potential period of utmost scrutiny where he can’t be termed a youngster but is also not experienced enough as a global cricketer.
It leads to the pertinent question: Is the added responsibility fruitful for Pant the batter and is the trade-off worth it?
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Captaincy demands nerves of steel (ask MS Dhoni) and Pant is an expressive individual. It is this eagerness to express that makes him a breathtaking batter to watch. In contrast, it doesn’t fit well with the requisites of captaincy. Yes, there are captains who have tasted success with a lively attitude but Pant is only 24 at present.
“No doubt in my mind that Rishabh is the right person [to lead the side],” said the head coach Ricky Ponting after the curtains drew on Delhi’s campaign. “He is still a very young man. He is still learning about the captaincy side of things,” he admitted stating that Pant should continue in the role.
However, for a franchise like Delhi, for whom the weight of the elusive trophy is getting longer and longer, is there a scenario where they come back to Pant when he is more ready for the job and pass the baton to David Warner in the meantime? Only time will tell. It would also be interesting to see how the dynamics of such an event pan out between the player and the franchise.
