 "IPL 2023: Ponting, Ganguly slammed for holding back Axar Patel in DC's defeat to SRH")
Delhi Capitals committed a massive tactical blunder on Saturday as they suffered a narrow 9-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023. The Delhi franchise gave away 197 bowling first with Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen making fifties for Hyderabad. Mitchell Marsh took four wickets for 27 in four overs. IPL 2023: Full coverage | Points table | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap The Australian all-rounder was in inspiring form on Saturday. After an excellent bowling display, he also had a terrific time with the bat. He smashed 63 off 39 and Phil Salt made 59 off 35. The duo stitched a partnership of 112 and DC had the upper hand in the chase but it all went downhill soon. Salt got out in the 12th over and by the 14th over both Marsh and Manish Pandey had departed. This is also where DC committed a tactical blunder by sending Priyam Garg (12 off 9) and Sarfaraz Khan (9 off 10) ahead of Axar Patel. By the time the all-rounder walked in, DC needed 58 off 26 balls. Read: SRH beat DC despite Marsh's all-round brilliance Axar blasted a quick-fire 29 off 14 in the death overs but Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan showed enough composure to restrict DC to 188/6 and snap SRH’s 3-game losing streak. With 211 runs this season, Axar is DC’s second-highest run-getter, however, for some reason, coach Ricky Ponting and the team management didn’t decide to promote him up in the batting order to finish the job. In Photos: SRH snap losing streak with 7-run win over DC Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Cricbuzz opined that Axar came in to bat late and that DC are not taking smart decisions in IPL 2023. “There is a lack of a left-hander in the middle. Axar Patel came in really when the game was lost. Tactically and strategically, I don’t see DC operating cleverly this year. They are missing so many tricks to create a clever T20 team,” said Vaughan. Ponting and DC’s Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly also came under fire on social media.
The lack of common sense at DC is astounding. Came through in the first match when Sarfaraz kept wickets.
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) April 29, 2023
Still clueless about Axar’s batting ability.
It’s a franchise protecting its jobs. Shaw’a media lashing by Ponting, a new low #DCvsSRH
Hard to understand why Axar Patel finds himself so far down the order, one inform batter in #DelhiCapitals XI??#DCvSRH
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) April 29, 2023
Delhi most disappointing last night. At 112-1 in 12th over chasing 197, match was in the bag. To lose from that position reflects how poor they were. Mediocre top order batting,barring Warner, main problem, but also strange tactics. Ridiculous to bat in-form Axar Patel at no.7!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 30, 2023
#DCvSRH
— Sushabhan biswas (@nonphysics) April 29, 2023
Can't imagine with Ganguly and Ricky Ponting sitting in the dugout, axar the best batman of DC gets only 14 balls score run at a strike rate of over 200 and still loses the match by 9 runs for not getting sufficient deliveries.
Pathetic in plain and simple English.
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