Rishabh Pant’s decisions on the field were under the scanner against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday. The Delhi Capitals skipper didn’t let his star bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with match figures of 3/14, complete his four-overs quota. 

Delhi Capitals won by four wickets. 

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Yadav, with 17 wickets in IPL 2022, is one shy of the purple cap holder – Yuzvendra Chahal. On Thursday, the chinaman bowler managed to get rid of four KKR batters including skipper Shreyas Iyer and the dangerous Andre Russell. His manner of using the flight in one delivery and suddenly increasing the pace in other was there for everyone to see. It was a bit surprising that skipper Rishabh Pant didn’t complete his quota of overs.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra slammmed Pant, saying Kuldeep Yadav not completing four overs will be a mystery. 

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“Kuldeep Yadav not finishing his quota will be one of the biggest mysteries this season. Four wickets in three overs,” tweeted Chopra.

Yadav foxed Baba Indrajith, who was making his IPL debut, with a flighted one and Sunil Narine was dismissed on duck to the left-arm wrist spinner’s googly. Shreyas Iyer under-edged a delivery and Russell fell to flight and change of pace. 

Instead of letting Kuldeep Yadav bowl his fourth over, Pant went to all-rounder Lalit Yadav for a couple. The 25-year-old finished with figures of 32/1 in three overs. 

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“Strange captaincy !!! @imkuldeep18 4-14 off 3 !!!! Doesn’t bowl his full quota … !!!! #IPL2022,” Former England captain Michael Vaughan tweeted after the first innings.

“Pant didn’t let him complete his four overs. This alone should be enough to know how horribly pathetic a captain Pant is. How DC have him as their captain second season in a row is baffling beyond belief ..” a Twitter user said. 

“I thought we would give him (Kuldeep) his final over from the other end but then the ball kept getting wet and I also wanted to change the pace, that’s why I brought the fast bowlers in but it didn’t work,” the DC skipper explained after the match.