After suffering a 15-run loss to Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023, Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan admitted that his decision to give left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar the final over backfired, while being critical of the performance of his fast-bowlers in power-play.
The ineffective performance of his fast-bowlers meant Dhawan had to give the ball to Brar for the last three out of five overs, with Ellis bowling two. The ploy backfired in the last two overs as Ellis was hit for 18 runs while Brar gave away 23 runs as Delhi made 213/2, with Rilee Rossouw top-scoring with 82 not out off 37 balls.
"My decision of bowling the spinner (Brar) in the last over backfired. The momentum went there. Before that my fast bowler (Ellis) went for 18 runs. Those two overs cost us the game," said Dhawan to broadcasters after the match ended.
"We didn't bowl really well in the first six overs. We should've taken some wickets out there, the way the pitch was offering the swing," he added.At the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, Punjab's fast bowlers in Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and Nathan Ellis were unable to stop Delhi openers David Warner and Prithvi Shaw in power-play, as they reached 61/0, followed by them having a 93-run opening partnership.
"Our bowlers didn't pitch the ball up, whereas they should have been. That was the plan. Unfortunately they couldn't implement it. Whether we take wickets or not, that's a different thing.""But we should bowl in the right areas, which we have not been doing for quite a long time and that's hurting us because in powerplay we are always giving 50-60 runs. And that's fine but we should be taking wickets as well," stated Dhawan, as Punjab are on the verge of elimination from IPL 2023.
Delhi skipper David Warner was happy with his team posting their first 200+ score on a pure batting pitch, and pointed out that his batters struggled to figure out the nature of pitches at their home ground, Arun Jaitley Stadium.
"I think playing on a nice wicket helps it's been challenging for us back at home with a lot of slow wickets and inconsistent pitches, it's good to get the guys here for some momentum at your home venue you want a bit of consistency and that's been the difficult thing. We haven't been able to work out what the best total is there," he said.
While Punjab play their last league game against Rajasthan Royals in Dharamsala on May 19, Delhi's final league game is against Chennai Super Kings in Delhi on afternoon of May 20.