IPL 2019 | I missed opportunity to finish the game, says Prithvi Shaw

Delhi Capitals opening batsman Prithvi Shaw looked excellent during his fine knock in the run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders. At the end of ten overs, his team’s score stood at 82/1, and with Shaw and the skipper Shreyas Iyer at the crease, they were on track to chase down the target of 186. The equation came down to 15 off the last two overs with seven wickets still in hand. Lockie Ferguson was bowling the penultimate over, when Shaw looked to slog a quicker delivery, but mistimed to give a high catch to the wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik. He went down for 99, and handed over the job of scoring the remaining 9 runs in 10 balls to his teammates. The Shreyas Iyer lead team eventually won the match in a super over.

“I thought I missed the opportunity to finish the game. Rather than scoring one run, I was looking to hit it big because I didn’t want the game to get this close. But the boys finished it off really well in the super over,” stated Shaw.

The Delhi based franchise possess an able support staff with legends such as Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly as it’s head coach and advisor, respectively. The team also uses the services of former India batsman Pravin Amre, who is the Talent Scout of the team. 

“I spoke to my support-staff, Ricky, Sourav, Praveen Amre and I figured out that I was going a little too hard early,” shared the 19 year old.

The Feroz Shah Kotla has traditionally been a pitch which offers a bit turn, and yesterday pitch was no different as the pitch had a few cracks and was dry. Shaw stated that the KKR spinners were turning the ball well, and shared the team’s plan of playing them out by scoring ones and twos.

“Kuldeep (Yadav) and Piyush (Chawla) were getting good turn. Batting became difficult, but we were looking to pick the singles and doubles. I have ten more matches to come and I am hoping to continue with the same intensity in the rest of them as well,” said the U-19 World Cup winning captain.

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada was tasked with defending the Delhi Capitals’ target of 11 runs in the super over. The big hitting Andre Russell was bowled over by a fiery yorker at a speed of 147 kmph. Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa could not do much, as the 23 year old bowled accurate yorkers and low full tosses at speeds of over 140 kmph, allowing the KKR batsmen to only gather seven runs in total.

“We weren’t sure who was going to bowl and then Hopesy came up to me and said I was going to bowl that over. Obviously, lots of nerves. I just saw it as a simulation and glad it paid off. You have to keep your wits about you and be really clear on what you have to bowl. I just went with yorkers and it worked in the end. I was clear and backed my plan,” stated Rabada.

The Delhi Capitals will next face Kings XI Punjab tomorrow, at Mohali.