Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag questioned Kolkata Knight Riders for their batting approach after they suffered a 40-run loss against Delhi Capitals at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Sunday. DC posted a par score of 203 runs on the board, but KKR was skittled out for 163 runs in the run chase.

Sehwag reckons KKR should have chased down this total but believes the home team’s energy must have dropped after they came to know about Rajasthan Royals’ qualification for the playoffs.

Sehwag said KKR would have qualified if they had won one of their earlier league phase matches.

“What’s the use of regretting now? If they had won one more match, then they would have qualified. From KKR’s side, this score should have been chased down. The approach did not work. Maybe it was because, as soon as they heard RR qualified, the energy seemed to go down. While chasing, you did not show the energy to bat well, and wickets kept falling,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

The former Indian skipper questioned KKR’s shot selection after the loss against DC.

“Sure, you missed out on qualification, but atleast play some good cricket, you should have chased this total. It was not as if the pitch was bad, or they bowled really well, I think the shot selection was quite poor,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian batter Manoj Tiwary said KKR kept losing wickets in clusters, which led to their downfall.

“Some players will be satisfied thinking that their performance was good today, and atleast the retention is confirmed. Once Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Cameron Green, a queue lined up, the wickets kept falling like a pack of cards,” Manoj Tiwary said.

KKR would aim to bounce back strongly in the next season.