Cricket

IPL 2023: Winning the game must have mattered most to Warner, says Aakash Chopra

Delhi Capitals finally recorded their first win in six games in the IPL 2023, beating Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here. Here is what Aakash Chopra had to say about DC’s win.

In a match that witnessed a delayed start of about one hour owing to rains on Thursday night, KKR were restricted to 127, thanks to a magnificent bowling effort by the hosts. In reply DC, surpassed the target, finishing at 128/6 in 19.2 overs.

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Skipper David Warner led DC’s charge with 57 runs (41b, 11×4) while the experienced Manish Pandey chipped in with 21 off 23 balls.

But it was the home team’s bowlers who starred on the night with the veteran Ishant Sharma, playing his first match this season, claiming 2-19 in four overs. South African paceman Anrich Nortje claimed 2-20 while spinner Axar Patel returned with 2-13 in three overs and also scored an unbeaten 19. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav too was extremely disciplined, taking 2-15 in three overs.

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Speaking of KKR’s performance, JioCinema expert Aakash Chopra said: “When you look back, the road always looks clear. But at the moment, you have to weigh your options and how you are going to use them. In my opinion, using three pacers initially was a bit too much. Because you were defending only 127 and DC had already scored 31 of those runs in three overs.”

“They did call their spinners thereafter, but it was a rare off day for Sunil Narine. Because if Anukul Roy, Nitish Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy – nobody gave more than 5 runs an over — and then you have Narine who wasn’t able to get a wicket and went for 36 runs in four overs. Then you think that our senior most bowler let us down today,” he said.

“Sometimes, you look at the seniormost of the house and hope they will bail you out when you are in trouble, but that didn’t happen in Narine’s case today. Nevertheless, Kolkata fought hard. But the reality is you are still stuck at the place you began,” he was quoted as saying in a statement.

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Speaking of Warner’s batting, Chopra said: “When you are chasing, the talk is never about the strike rate as you are playing according to the scoreboard. You approach the game with the mindset of asking yourself what is needed. It’s not important in which over you win the match. But Warner batted well. The bowling was a bit ordinary in the beginning but what must have mattered to Warner was that he ended up on the winning side.”