Ahmedabad: Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya’s bowling changes, especially in the death overs in the match against Rajasthan Royals are being questioned with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Amol Muzumdar and Tom Moody feeling the Titans skipper erred by not giving another over to Mohit Sharma.
Mohit Sharma had bowled two overs for just seven runs in the second half of the Rajasthan Royals’ chase of a 178-run target. Skipper Sanju Samson was looking to break the shackles as Rajasthan Royals were recovering from a precarious 66/4 after 12 overs needing 112 runs to win from 48 balls. Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer guided them to victory with some superb batting against Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami in the last couple of overs to guide them to three wickets victory.
Hardik Pandya’s decision not to give a third over to Mohit Sharma and instead press spinner Noor Ahmad into action has not gone down well with the experts.
“They probably didn’t give Mohit Sharma the ball as they would have thought that he would find it difficult to hit the spinners as compared to pacers. They felt he may not be able to read Rashid and Noor Ahmed properly and would get dismissed. But how do you still not give a third over to someone who has conceded just 7 runs in his first 2 overs?” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
Moody told ESPNCricinfo that though Noor Ahmad got rid of Sanju Samson, GT should have used Mohit Sharma instead because of his better experience and the fact that he has given only seven runs in two overs whereas his two top bowlers Rashid Khan (2-46) and Alzarri Joseph (0-47 in 3 overs) had conceded 93 runs in seven overs.
Muzumdar concurred with the opinion that Mohit Sharma should have been given one more over. in those circumstances.
Former Delhi all-rounder Rajat Bhatia too felt that Mohit should have got another over.
“Rajasthan batted really well, but Gujarat should have shown trust in their experienced bowler. Mohit Sharma gave just 7 runs in his 2 overs and it’s hard to understand why he didn’t bowl at least one more over,” said Bhatia.
Sehwag also felt that Gujarat Titans’ bowling attack has come under pressure in the last few matches.
“Rajasthan have broken the jinx of everyone thinking that Gujarat has very strong bowling and that targets cannot be chased. They leaked runs just like the bowling attacks of the likes of Chennai and Mumbai. So they have to get together and make a plan as to who are going to bowl their final three overs,” Sehwag said.
–IANS
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