Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer is being criticized for not giving the over to spinner Chahal against Delhi. This was the team’s fourth consecutive defeat. Experts called it a wrong decision, while Iyer described the pitch as favorable for fast bowlers.
Hospice: Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer is being heavily criticized for not bowling even a single over to spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the IPL match against Delhi Capitals despite being in the team. This was Punjab’s fourth consecutive defeat this season, after which former cricketers and experts have taken Iyer to task. The special thing was that during Punjab’s innings, Delhi captain Akshar Patel also did not bowl a single over. In this way, it became a unique match of IPL in which the spinner of neither team bowled.
Former Indian fast bowler Dodda Ganesh termed Shreyas’s decision as ‘stupid’. He said that it is difficult to believe that even when pacemen like Marcus Stoinis, Yash Thakur, Ben Dwarshuis and Marco Jansen were conceding more than 11 runs per over, Iyer ignored a specialist spinner like Chahal. Dodda Ganesh said, “That a champion bowler like Chahal sat on the bench and did not even get a chance is unbelievable. Chahal had the ability to take more wickets than Stoinis. I don’t know when this superstition will end that spinners do not get help in Dharamshala.”
Former Indian player Mohammad Kaif also expressed surprise at the decisions of both Shreyas and Akshar. Kaif said, “I am surprised that both the teams did not use their spinners in Dharamshala. Statistics show that the economy rate of the spinners here has been better than the pacers. It is really very strange for Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal not to bowl even a single over.”
However, after the match, Shreyas Iyer clarified his controversial decision. He said, “Looking at the pitch and conditions, I decided not to bowl to the spinners. I had thought of bowling the ball to Chahal, but the ball was seaming well and I thought it would help the fast bowlers. If our bowlers had bowled on the right line and length, we could have got wickets. Unfortunately, that did not happen.”