Akshar Patel made his debut this year when Delhi Capitals narrowly defeated Gujarat Titans, with the southpaw scoring a crucial 66 to help the team post a magnificent score.
DC batting coach Pravin Amre said that the decision to promote him was made to fight against R Sai Kishor in the powerplay.
“If you think back to last year, he was the one who batted really well. The plan (to promote Akshara) was to have Sai Kishore bowling in the powerplay and we wanted a batsman to go against him,” Amre said.
The Capitals had earlier tried Abhishek Porel for the role, but Amre said the team felt the Bengal batsman would be better suited for the position.
“Borrell started well with 30 off 10 balls against Kings XI Punjab. His attack was great. But, as a batting unit, runs are important for all the batsmen and Akshar is yet to get a big hit and Porel has not. Hit from the top down (in the order), so we want to use him as a closer,” the coach said.
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Says GT’s Sai Kishore, the 113-run gap between Akshar and Rishabh Pant and the loss of runs at the death is where the scales tip.
“Aksa and Pant played well and they had this pace and we hit more sixes than fours in the last few overs and that got the game out of control a little bit,” said the left-arm spinner.
However, he is confident of his side’s chances of challenging for a top-four finish. “The best thing about this team is that everyone has faith,” he said. “I think a lot of things have gotten out of hand. We tried to make sure we played the way we did and were emotionally detached from the result.”
Tags: IPL Delhi batting coach Amre Akshar Sai campaigned Kishore
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