IPL 2019 | Sunil Gavaskar blasts Delhi Capitals for blaming pitch after loss
Sunil Gavaskar has blasted Delhi Capitals for blaming the pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla for their loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 4. Gavaskar’s opinion has come after the Capitals’ coach Ricky Ponting had blamed the groundsmen for dishing out a different pitch against what was claimed.
In Delhi Capitals’ previous encounter on Thursday, they were put to bat by Sunrisers Hyderabad. There were a lot of expectations from the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant to perform well, but they all threw their wickets and were dismissed for scores of 12, 11 and five respectively. Shreyas Iyer played a sluggish knock of 43 in 41 deliveries but managed to hold one end, only to get out at the start of the death overs. SRH batted beautifully in the powerplay, scoring 62 for no loss. They stumbled in between but managed to chase down the target of 130 with five wickets and nine balls remaining.
However, the DC head coach Ricky Ponting was quick to make the groundsmen the scapegoat for his batsmen’s mistakes. Sunil Gavaskar, on the eve of DC’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, suggested the team to introspect into their mistakes.
“The big plus (for RCB) is that the visiting team have distractions of their own as they are looking to blame the pitch rather than the silly way their batsmen got out for a low score and made it easy for Hyderabad, who are on a roll at the moment,” Gavaskar stated, reported TOI.
"The old saying 'a bad craftsman blames his tools' comes to mind as the Delhi team, instead of honest self-introspection, is trying to divert the blame for their defeat on the pitch. Look at some of the shots their batsmen played to get out,” he added.
DC
“After that, even when they had half the Hyderabad team back in the pavilion and with Rabada fresh from that awesome super over against Russell, the lengths that they bowled allowed the Hyderabad team to nose ahead,” the 69-year-old remarked.
On the other hand, things are going from bad to worse for Virat Kohli’s RCB. They lost all their five games until now. They lost their previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders, even after dominating the entire game and scoring over 200, courtesy Mohammed Siraj and Tim Southee's bowling, along with the 13 balls that Andre Russell played. The legendary batsman was of the belief that Russell’s blitzkrieg innings of 48 will still be on their minds.
“Andre Russell's murderous assault on the hapless RCB bowlers may still be on their minds as they prepare for Sunday's game against Delhi Capitals,” said the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee.
The pitch at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru has always been a batsman’s paradise and the former batsman claims this time it will be no different. He also did not sound very optimistic about RCB’s bowling after their repeated failures in the tournament and expected Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris to be more effective with the ball.
“The Bangalore pitch for the game on Friday was a beauty to bat on and both teams' batsmen showed their appreciation by scoring over 400 runs in the match. There shouldn't