Virender Sehwag, the former Indian opener, expressed his bewilderment when Krunal Pandya, the captain of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), stated that they excluded star opener Quinton de Kock from the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) due to Kyle Mayers’ performance record in Chennai.
Despite Kyle Mayers having only played one innings at the Chepauk before, where he performed well and scored a notable half-century, Virender Sehwag strongly criticized the management’s decision and emphasized the significance of Quinton de Kock’s current form, especially in the context of a knockout game.
Virender Sehwag calls out LSG management
In an interview with Cricbuzz following the match, Virender Sehwag discussed the decision to drop Quinton de Kock.
“Even I have a good record in Chennai as I hit 319. But it doesn’t mean that even today I will go out there and score. Current form also matters and I feel Lucknow shot themselves in their own foot (by dropping De Kock),” Sehwag said.
Sehwag on Rohit Sharma’s mistake
Despite Mumbai Indians (MI) having an exceptionally strong performance against LSG, Virender Sehwag believes that captain Rohit Sharma could have made a better decision by not bowling the inexperienced Hrithik Shokeen during the powerplay. Shokeen, an off-spinner, only bowled one over but gave away 18 runs and was heavily targeted by Marcus Stoinis, who hit him to all areas of the ground.
“One move I was disappointed with was to see Hrithik Shokeen bowl to an international star like Marcus Stoinis within the powerplay. If you wanted to bowl a spinner you should have turned around to Piyush Chawla who has the experience. With a spread out field after the powerplay, maybe Shokeen would have done better. So that’s one area where Rohit Sharma made a mistake,” he said.
Ahead of their Qualifier 2 clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT), the Mumbai Indians are considering making only one change to their lineup. It is likely that left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya will replace Hrithik Shokeen, who delivered a lackluster performance in the Eliminator match.
