Former India captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar has criticized Rajasthan Royals ‘strategy’ and captain Sanju Samson in the wake of their loss to Delhi Capitals. Delhi beat Rajasthan by eight wickets in a match played at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday.
After winning the toss, Delhi captain Rishabh sent the ball to Rajasthan. Ravichandran Ashwin (50) and Devdutt Padikkal (48) were the top scorers for Rajasthan with 160 runs.
But Sunil Gavaskar observed that the Rajasthan strategy of promoting Ashwin in the batting order was flawed. Gavaskar said that with this, Sanju Samson had to go down to fifth and it affected Sanju’s batting. Sanju was out for just six runs in the match.
‘Sanju is a very dangerous batter. But going down in the batting order will not help. For a number four batter, he can go down to third if not fourth. Take responsibility. Gavaskar said, “Look what happened now in a crucial match.” Gavaskar said that Sanju was forced to make an unnecessary shot as Rajasthan did not get the start he wanted.
In his Twenty20 career, Ashwin scored his first half-century of the match. Ashwin scored 50 off 38 balls. Devdutt Padikkal scored 48 off 30 balls. In reply, Delhi won the toss and elected to bat.
With 14 points from 12 matches, Rajasthan’s remaining two matches have now become crucial. Gavaskar has repeatedly criticized Sanju’s captaincy. But he has managed to put in a better performance as a captain. Sanju has scored 327 runs in 12 matches. This would include two half-centuries. Sanju has been known to firecrackers in many matches. In any case, the upcoming matches between Sanju and Rajasthan are sure to be decisive.
