Mumbai, Apr 21 (IANS): Delhi Capitals' skipper Rishabh Pant believes that the off-field noise caused by the Covid-19 scare in the team made them think about giving their complete focus towards their match against Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium.
There was a cloud of uncertainty over the match to happen as scheduled as Delhi's wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday morning, taking the tally of people infected by the virus to six. But Delhi put all those concerns aside with an all-round, thumping nine-wicket win over Punjab to go to sixth place in the points table.
"Obviously there was confusion in our camp because in the morning we got to know that Tim (Seifert) is also positive. There was some confusion, nervousness and what are we going to do now kinda feeling, but we spoke in the team meeting and pointed out on what we can focus. There was so much noise from the outside that we thought we will focus on the match," said Pant after the match.
After bowlers put up an impressive show to bowl out Punjab for just 115, Delhi's chase was led by a whirlwind opening partnership of 83 between David Warner (60 not out) and Prithvi Shaw (41 off 20 balls).
"Mostly I like to leave them (Shaw and Warner) alone as everyone knows their roles in the team. We will look to improve in every match and that's the only thing we can control, results are not in our control but we can learn from our mistakes," stated Pant.
Punjab were cruising at 33/0 in 3.3 overs. But the introduction of off-spin from Lalit Yadav, followed by left-arm spin of Axar Patel and left-arm wrist spin from Kuldeep Yadav derailed Punjab's innings. Asked about his reason to bring spinners early on, Pant remarked, "On a wicket like this, after one or two overs, I saw the ball was stopping a bit and I thought I should use more spin. I thought 150 would be a good enough score to stop them at."
Delhi's next match will be against Rajasthan Royals on April 22 at the Wankhede Stadium, shifted from the original venue of MCA Stadium in Pune.