IPL 2020: Gautam Gambhir lashes out at Dinesh Karthik for poor decision-making against DC

Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) match against Delhi Capitals (DC) brought out the former’s weak sides on the table as they failed to chase the target in Sharjah. Chasing 229, KKR lost the contest by eight runs due to some decisions, which were deemed indifferent. Skipper Dinesh Karthik has been caught under the scanner of criticism for taking some unusual calls that affected the pace of their chase.

Fans also flooded the social media by asking the KKR management to give captaincy roles to Eoin Morgan instead. Now, former Indian opener, Gautam Gambhir, who led KKR to two IPL trophies, also was unhappy with many decisions. Gambhir slammed Karthik for giving the 19th over to Varun Chakravarthy, who conceded 20 runs in his overs after doing a fine job for his team in earlier matches.

Pat Cummins or Sunil Narine could have replaced him in that over, opined Gambhir. “Your best bowlers need to ball the 18th, 19th, and 20th over, unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine — if a spinner has to bowl. Even Mavi, he did a fabulous job in the previous games, and so did Andre Russell.

“You have to got to give your best bowlers. Yes, Varun Chakravarty did bowl well in the first few overs, but you cannot expect a young spinner to be bowling the 19th over and that too in Sharjah, probably it was a miscalculation,” said Gambhir in ESPNCricinfo chat show.

Gambhir led KKR home in 2012 and 2014

Gambhir is considered as one of the most successful captains in the history of IPL as he turned KKR’s fortunes around in the tournament. He was roped in by the KKR side in the year 2011 and did his best for them while remaining with them till 2017. He brought the best out of his players while leading them from the front till 2017.

Though KKR have a balanced side, they have failed to make the mark in some matches in this edition of IPL. Apart from the Capitals, the Knights also lost to the Mumbai Indians (MI) in their first game. They are set to lock horns with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their next game.