IPL 2020 | Prithvi Shaw should have played entire tournament for DC, states Gautam Gambhir

Tactics and confidence are getting a bit bizarre in the Delhi Capitals camp, with the franchise having failed in four out of their last five games in the 2020 edition of the IPL. Despite the win against RCB, Delhi put on a familiar display against Mumbai to head to this contest against SRH, where everything is on the line. Ahead of this contest, there would be a lot of questions over the places of Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order.

Former Delhi Capitals captain Gautam Gambhir has stated that the Delhi management should have always looked to play Prithvi Shaw at the top of the order, instead of booting him out mid-way through the season. He also opined that it is the support staff’s issue for bringing his confidence levels down. From a team perspective, Gambhir added that Delhi should bring in Shimron Hetmyer and Harshal Patel for Daniel Sams and Rahane respectively. 

“They need to get Shimron Hetmyer back and Harshal Patel for Daniel Sams. Prithvi should have played the entire tournament, probably if there is a dip of form and he couldn’t regain the form, you question the support staff for that. He started off really well, it’s not like he went the entire tournament without scoring runs. If I had a choice, I would still choose Shaw over Rahane purely because he is a specialist opener,” said Gambhir in ESPNCricinfo’s preview for the game.

“See if there was another exciting option, I don’t want to drop Shaw for Rahane as I don’t really rate Rahane highly in the shortest format while conceding that it only looks like six balls are enough to dismiss Shaw, let’s hope that changes,” added Sanjay Manjrekar. 

On the other hand, from a tactical point of view, both Manjrekar and Gambhir want the franchise to play Stoinis up the order. 

“I fail to understand why Stoinis is batting lower down the order, he should be batting at No.3. I still fail to understand if Ponting is being nice to local players and Iyer has looked like Shaw, a bit out of form. So absolutely will use Stoinis at the top of the order at 3,” Manjrekar added. 

“If not at 3, I would push Stoinis at 4 and would ask him to bat ahead of Pant. I would push Pant down the order, give him just three-four overs and ask him to go from the very first ball without worrying much,” Gambhir concluded.