Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed Rishabh Pant’s leadership after Lucknow Super Giants suffered a crushing 54-run loss against Punjab Kings at New Chandigarh on Sunday.
Ashwin questioned Pant for the bowling changes he made against PBKS, when the hosts posted 254 runs on the board. After deciding to bowl first, LSG got the early wicket of Prabhsimran Singh, who was dismissed for a golden duck.
However, Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly took the LSG bowlers to the cleaners. While Arya scored 93 runs off 37 balls, Connolly smashed 87 runs off 46 balls. The left-handed duo added 182 runs off just 80 balls for the second-wicket.
Rishabh Pant gave the ball to Ayush Badoni and Aiden Markram, who both were smashed for 14 and 32 runs respectively in a solitary over they bowled. Ashwin questioned Pant for giving overs to Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami and Aiden Markram after Manimaran Siddharth bowled an impressive ninth over, in which he conceded only 10 runs.
Ravi Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “After Badoni bowled an expensive seventh over, Siddharth bowled a good next over. You should have seen how he was nailing yorkers to left-handers. But what did you do next three overs? Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, and Aiden Markram. With moves like these, what kind of conversation can you have as a captain with bowlers? You’ll get respect in the dressing room if you say you messed up as a captain.”
“There is too much of not bowling a left-arm spinner to a left-hander. When the two PBKS left-handers are blazing, he brought in Badoni. He is good when the ball rolls on the pitch and keeps low in the Delhi Premier League. Likewise, people can hype up Markram by saying he has bowled for South Africa. But Manimaran Siddharth is high quality. He is a very good white-ball bowler.”
Ashwin said it is better to lose when a team backs its main bowlers rather than lose while backing part-timers.
“You are better off bowling your specialist bowler fully and losing. You would rather lose with a Kuldeep Yadav giving 60 in four overs and losing. You don’t lose with your best batters not coming out to bat. I am not even saying you have to bowl Siddharth four overs. But at least bowl him first and change if and when he gets hit. Give him a chance to respond if he gets hit, and then change it,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).
LSG will next take on KKR at Lucknow on Sunday.
