Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel made the abrupt choice of switching his wicket-keeper in the middle of the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk on Saturday.
Abhishek Porel swapped the gloves and pads with India’s designated ODI gloveman KL Rahul following a poor decision of Porel for the DRS in the Mitchell Starc’s third over. Vijay Shankar had some bat to the ball as Axar was prompted to take the review by Abhishek.
That seemed to have spurred on the decision by DC to bring in Rahul to keep the wickets due to his experiencing and game-reading skills.
Abhishek Porel swapped the gloves and pads with India’s designated ODI gloveman KL Rahul following a wasted decision of Porel for the DRS in Mitchell Starc’s third over. Vijay Shankar had some bat to the ball as Axar was prompted to take the review by Porel.
The beautiful in-swinger from Starc slammed into Shankar’s toes and seemed to be heading to the middle stump. The yorker landing perfectly could’ve pushed Porel’s case but he wasn’t able to convince the captain to go for the referral.
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As the big screen flashed, it was clear that it was shoe first and bat next as DC players grimaced.
That seemed to have spurred on the decision by DC to bring in Rahul to keep the wickets due to his experience and game-reading skills. It is a very common practice for captains to first ask the bowler and then the keeper for a second opinion before asking for the referral.
Rahul has proved to be a reliable source for DRS for India since MS Dhoni’s retirement.
DC’s decision proved to be a game changing one because Rahul managed to take care of fielding positions inside the circle while Axar got hold of the outfielding placements according to the bowlers.
Until the very last ball, Rahul seemed to be co-captaining alongside Axar as DC restricted CSK to 158/5 in 20 overs and won the match by 25 runs. It was half of the margin with which Royal Challengers Bengaluru had won at the Chepauk for the first time in 17 years, but DC remain the only undefeated side besides Punjab Kings who have played two matches so far.
Rahul starred with the bat as well, with his 77 off 51 balls propelling DC to 183/6 in 20 overs.
Collective efforts from all the bowlers – Mitchell Starc (1-27), Mukesh Kumar (1-36), Vipraj Nigam (2-27) and Kuldeep Yadav (1-30) – made sure that Axar was bowling just one over.
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