AB de Villiers angry with Shikhar Dhawan: AB de Villiers was very upset with Shikhar Dhawan’s decision in a recent IPL 2024 match. Dhawan chose to use up all of Kagiso Rabada’s overs before the 15th over. This decision didn’t sit well with de Villiers.
In the match between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, de Villiers, a former South Africa captain, didn’t agree with Dhawan’s tactics. He felt that Rabada, who had a good start by getting rid of RCB captain Faf du Plessis and Cameron Green early on, should have been saved for later overs.
PBKS had set a target of 176 runs for RCB to chase. Rabada’s early wickets gave them a good start. However, if Jonny Bairstow had managed to hold on to a catch, Rabada might have dismissed Virat Kohli too.
De Villiers believed that keeping Rabada for later overs could have made a difference in the outcome of the match.
After a shaky start, Kohli stepped up his game and began hitting some amazing shots to bring RCB’s chase back on course. Despite losing wickets at the other end, Kohli’s exceptional batting kept RCB in the game. Left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar managed to take some crucial wickets during this phase.
Witnessing Kohli’s aggressive play, Dhawan made a bold decision. He handed the ball to Rabada, their star bowler, and opted to use up all his overs as early as the 14th over of the match.
However, this risky move didn’t work out as expected. Rabada couldn’t grab any more wickets and ended with figures of 2 wickets for 23 runs. It was the first time in IPL history that Rabada finished his full quota of overs before the 15th over. Even though Rabada isn’t known for his exceptional performance in the later overs, retaining an over of his could have been beneficial for PBKS.
Unfortunately, the other bowlers like Sam Curran, Harshal Patel, and Arshdeep Singh couldn’t control the flow of runs, despite the dismissals of Kohli, who scored 77 runs, and Anuj Rawat. In the end, Dinesh Karthik, with an unbeaten 28 runs off 10 balls, and Mahipal Lomror, scoring 17 runs off 8 balls, showcased brilliant hitting skills. They smashed 48 runs in just 18 balls, leading RCB to their first victory of the 17th season.
Dhawan decided to bowl Rabada out before the 15th over because he thought it would help in controlling RCB’s run rate and take crucial wickets. However, De Villiers believed it was a big mistake not to save Rabada for the later overs. He mentioned that since RCB was playing well, it was important to have Rabada bowling in the death overs when the match was likely to go down to the wire.
Anil Kumble, the former PBKS coach and a legendary Indian cricketer, suggested that if leg-spinner Rahul Chahar had performed better, Dhawan might have held back Rabada’s overs for the death overs. Kumble’s viewpoint was that if Chahar had bowled effectively, it could have given Dhawan more flexibility in using Rabada strategically towards the end of the innings.
In the match, Rahul Chahar, the leg-spinner, faced a tough time as he conceded 16 runs in the only over he bowled. Kohli and Rajat Patidar took advantage of Chahar’s bowling, scoring runs freely.
As a result of the match, both Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) now have two points each. This means that after playing two matches each, both teams have earned the same number of points in the tournament.
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