IPL 2022: Aakash Chopra reviews Rishabh Pant's captaincy in IPL 2022

Ex-India cricketer Aakash Chopra has shared his thoughts on Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant's captaincy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. He believes that the southpaw made a number of mistakes while leading his side during the recently concluded tournament.

Chopra pointed out that in a league match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets from his first three overs. He added that he was very surprised that Pant didn't bring back the left-armer for his fourth over.

The cricketer-turned-commentator suggested that such calculation errors happened repeatedly. On several occasions, a frontline bowler wasn't given his full quota of four overs. Chopra made these remarks while speaking on his YouTube channel earlier today.

Chopra said:

"Rishabh Pant as a player is one of my favourites and I really like him as we also come from the same club. But his captaincy wasn't that great. There were several occasions where I was left scratching my head. There was a match in which Kuldeep Yadav took four wickets in his three overs but wasn't given his fourth over. This didn't just happen once and in many instances DC's main bowlers didn't bowl their four overs."

The former India opener suggested that Rishabh Pant's lack of runs hurt DC big time in this year's cash-rich league. He stated that the left-hander didn't contribute significantly with the bat in the team's victories.

Chopra opined that the swashbuckler was on several occasions dismissed because of his ego as he tried to unsettle the bowlers with big hits. He suggested that this wasn't the right approach as DC didn't have a lot of batting after Pant.

He said:

"Rishabh Pant's form with the bat was also a big issue for DC. His runs didn't come in winning causes. He has a good average, but he has scored more runs in the games that they lost. You need to contribute to winning causes. Unfortunately, Pant wasn't able to."

He added:

"At times, he got out because of his ego. He tried taking on a bowler a bit too much after hitting a six. But there wasn't scope for that in this team as there wasn't much batting after him."

Pant mustered 340 runs at an average of 30.91 from his 14 appearances. However, the batter failed to score big runs consistently and wasn't able to cross the 50-run mark even once in IPL 2022.

"Rishabh Pant deserves some credit from Kuldeep Yadav's wickets in IPL 2022" - Aakash Chopra

Kuldeep Yadav's inspiring bowling performance was one of the biggest positives for the Delhi-based side. The spinner was their leading wicket-taker this season, picking up 21 wickets from 14 games.

Chopra believes that skipper Rishabh Pant also deserves some credit for Kuldeep Yadav's wickets. He mentioned that the DC captain brought Yadav into the attack in crunch situations where there were high chances of getting wickets.

He added:

"Kuldeep Yadav took a lot of wickets and Risbhabh Pant deserves some credit for that. He bowled him in the latter stages of the game and even gave him the 20th over once. He's bowled him in areas and times where there were chances of getting wickets."

The Delhi-based side weren't able to make it to the IPL 2022 playoffs. Rishabh Pant and Co.'s campaign was a mixed bag as they managed seven wins and as many losses in the league stage. They ultimately finished fifth in the points table.