"If Sourav Ganguly couldn't read this pitch, who could have?" - Aakash Chopra questions Rishabh Pant's decision to bat first in DC's IPL loss to KKR

Aakash Chopra has questioned Rishabh Pant's decision to bat first in the Delhi Capitals' (DC) IPL 2024 loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The Capitals posted a below-par score of 153/9 after opting to set a target in Kolkata on Monday, April 29. The hosts chased the target down with seven wickets and 21 deliveries to spare to climb into second position on the points table.

Reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra was surprised about the Delhi Capitals' inability to read the Eden Gardens pitch despite the presence of Sourav Ganguly in their camp.

"Who bats first after winning the toss? I am not being too critical but I have to talk about it if it's the truth. The team winning the toss has batted first only two times in the last 30 matches here, and whoever did that lost. It's not that you always win while chasing but no one bats first in Kolkata," he said (0:50).

"Whatever happens, the batting becomes slightly easier later but Delhi said they would bat first. I was surprised. If Sourav Ganguly couldn't read this pitch, who could have? This pitch is like the back of his palm. You know all of it, so it wasn't understandable," the former India opener added.

The Capitals won their last two games while batting first in Delhi. Those results might have tempted Pant and company to set a target even in Kolkata.

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"I was very surprised" - Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant's batting approach

Rishabh Pant scored 27 runs off 20 deliveries. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra was also taken aback by Rishabh Pant's batting approach.

"Four wickets fell quickly and then you hoped captain Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel would take their team out of troubled waters. However, I was very surprised. Rishabh - you cannot bat like that. It seemed like he was trying to do something different off every ball. He tried to play the same shot multiple times," he explained (2:50).

"A catch was dropped, it didn't hit his bat once, but he said that he wouldn't even listen to himself once he had committed, and he got out. He has gotten out to Varun Chakaravarthy twice in two games. Very, very surprising, the way he was batting. We have seen Pant playing much better than that," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

Pant was dropped by Harshit Rana at short third man after top-edging an attempted hoick off Varun Chakaravarthy's bowling. He tried a similar shot in the KKR spinner's next over and was caught by Shreyas Iyer at extra cover.