‘No one bats first in Kolkata’ – Aakash Chopra questions Rishabh Pant’s decision against KKR

Rishabh Pant. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Delhi Capitals’ recent clash against Kolkata Knight Riders was one that the side will strive to forget. Taking on the two-time champions, Delhi sustained a seven-wicket loss against KKR, and many opined that the visitors made the mistake of batting first at the Eden Gardens.

Winning the toss, DC opted to bat first and managed to post a subpar total of 153 runs in the first innings with Kuldeep Yadav being the highest run-getter, scoring 35 runs in 26 deliveries.

Reviewing the game, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra came forward to criticise DC’s decision to bat first as well. The 46-year-old opined that no one bats first in Kolkata; he also talked about how Sourav Ganguly should have known everything about the pitch, but a blunder was made nonetheless.

“Who bats first after winning the toss? I am not being too critical, but I have to talk about it if it’s the truth. The team winning the toss has batted first only two times in the last 30 matches here, and whoever did that lost. It’s not that you always win while chasing, but no one bats first in Kolkata,” Aakash Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Whatever happens, the batting becomes slightly easier later, but Delhi said they would bat first. I was surprised. If Sourav Ganguly couldn’t read this pitch, who could have? This pitch is like the back of his palm. You know all of it, so it wasn’t understandable,” he added.

I was very surprised: Chopra

Furthermore, Aakash Chopra talked about the approach that Pant used during his innings against KKR. He opined that Pant looked to be trying to do something different with every ball, and that cost DC the game.

“Four wickets fell quickly and then you hoped captain Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel would take their team out of troubled waters. However, I was very surprised. Rishabh – you cannot bat like that. It seemed like he was trying to do something different off every ball. He tried to play the same shot multiple times,”  Chopra said.