IPL 2020 | Ajinkya Rahane proved his experience after Ponting backed him, opines Virender Sehwag

IPL 2020 | Ajinkya Rahane proved his experience after Ponting backed him, opines Virender Sehwag

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Rahane played a match winning knock against RCB

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@IPLT20

Virender Sehwag has opined that it was a ‘tough’ decision from Ricky Ponting to back Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane but added that Rahane proved why experience matters in T20 cricket. He also stated that picking Rahane was important for DC to provide the stability that they lacked.

Delhi’s extra-ordinary season turned into quite an ordinary one at the end when they needed a win off their last encounter against RCB to seal a qualification place. With both Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw struggling with bad form, DC’s head-coach Ricky Ponting had a decision to make. The Australian coach, however, persisted with both the Indian players, dropping Shimron Hetmyer to make way for another foreign pacer, which in the end turned out to be a good move for the Capitals. 

After Delhi’s win over Bangalore, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag opined that Ponting was right to back the experienced batsman Rahane, who proved his worth in tough situation for the franchise. Chasing 153, coming in at 19/1, the right-handed batsman provided Delhi with the much-need stability, with his 46-ball 60 that took them home with an over to spare. 

“It was a tough call for Ricky Ponting as both Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw were not performing. But he backed and played them, it was a tough decision,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz after the Delhi Capitals beat RCB on Monday.

“You play an experienced player because you know that he might not have scored runs for 3-4 games but he can come back in the next game with a big innings. That’s what Ajinkya Rahane did. He scored 60 off 46 balls and also scored at a strike rate of 130 which is more than his average scoring rate,” he added. 

Prior to the move to Delhi, Rahane proved his batting prowess in the shortest format with Rajasthan Royals, where consistency was his key. However, since the switch, Rahane was unable to find a place and when he did find a place in the playing XI, failed to find his consistency until the RCB game. Sehwag stated that very few people rate Rahane as a good T20 player but added that Delhi just needed the victory, it didn’t matter how they were chasing it. 

“Very few rate him as a T20 player. They say he can’t hit the fours and sixes but when you have a solid player like him in your team then you can attack from the other end. The victory was important (For Delhi Capitals). Whether they won it by 2 wickets or 10 wickets, it wouldn’t have mattered. They needed to win to finish in the top 2,” he concluded.

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