Delhi Capitals’ recent showdown with Kolkata Knight Riders ended in disappointment as they suffered a seven-wicket defeat, a result that left many questioning their decision to bat first at the Eden Gardens. After winning the toss, Delhi Capitals opted to set a target, but their innings yielded a modest 153 runs, with Kuldeep Yadav emerging as the top scorer with 35 runs off 26 balls.
Renowned cricket analyst Aakash Chopra joined the chorus of critics, highlighting the rarity of teams opting to bat first in Kolkata. Chopra pointed out that in the last 30 matches at the venue, teams winning the toss and choosing to bat first have ended up on the losing side, emphasizing the advantage of chasing in Kolkata’s conditions.
“Who bats first after winning the toss? I am not being too critical, but I have to talk about it if it’s the truth. The team winning the toss has batted first only two times in the last 30 matches here, and whoever did that lost. It’s not that you always win while chasing, but no one bats first in Kolkata,” Aakash Chopra expressed in a video on his YouTube channel.
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Aakash Chopra also questioned Delhi Capitals’ skipper Sourav Ganguly’s decision-making, suggesting that as someone intimately familiar with the Eden Gardens pitch, Ganguly should have recognized the prevailing trends and opted to field first.
“Whatever happens, the batting becomes slightly easier later, but Delhi said they would bat first. I was surprised. If Sourav Ganguly couldn’t read this pitch, who could have? This pitch is like the back of his palm. You know all of it, so it wasn’t understandable,” he added.
Aakash Chopra further dissected Rishabh Pant’s batting approach, criticizing the Delhi Capitals captain for attempting overly extravagant shots instead of consolidating the innings.
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“Four wickets fell quickly and then you hoped captain Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel would take their team out of troubled waters. However, I was very surprised. Rishabh – you cannot bat like that. It seemed like he was trying to do something different off every ball. He tried to play the same shot multiple times,” Aakash Chopra remarked.
