Short boundaries, flat deck and a powerhouse batting line-up in front of you. And what do you do? Present that team the option of making first use of the pitch and the chance to bat you out of the contest. That is what Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant did at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
Sunrisers have won five games out of seven this season and four of them have come while defending a score. In three of those games, they have scored more than 260. In the 16-year history of the IPL, in which 1067 games have been contested, (till the SRH vs DC clash) a total more than 200-plus has been successfully chased down only 21 times. That is a success percentage of 1.96. DC have chased 200-plus only once.
When you know that your bowling line-up has already conceded 272/7 (vs KKR), 234/5 (vs MI) prior to Saturday this season, why put it under the stress of having to bowl to a line-up as power packed as SRH's first up?
Wouldn't it be better to make 200-plus batting first and hoping that scoreboard pressure works for you? DC comfortably defended 191 for 5 vs CSK on a batting beauty at Vizag. That’s food for thought for some of the legends sitting in the DC dug out as coaches.
