New Delhi, Jun 10 (IANS): Former India pacer Ashish Nehra admitted that he was left surprised over how skipper Rishabh Pant utilised leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, saying that when South Africa batters David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen were going big, why wasn't Chahal brought in to stem the run-flow.

In defence of 211 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, Chahal, the top wicket-taker in IPL 2022, was brought in to bowl the fourth over but was taken for 16 runs by Dwaine Pretorius and Quinton de Kock. Pant then got Chahal back in the attack in the eighth over, where he conceded just six runs.

Chahal got his third over with South Africa needing just four runs off the final over, which they achieved the target with five balls remaining, leaving the leg-spinner with figures of 0/26 in 2.1 overs. His left-arm spin counterpart, Axar Patel, bowled his four overs consistently in the middle overs phase and had figures of 1/40 in four overs.

"The opposition scored 212 and Chahal bowled merely two overs. It wasn't as if he conceded 22 runs in one over. You know that the runs are flowing. Even Axar Patel bowled an over to the left-handed David Miller. So, it was very surprising for me that a bowler like Yuzvendra Chahal bowled only two while the opposition made 212 runs," said Nehra on Cricbuzz after the match ended in South Africa's favour.

Further explaining his point, Nehra, the head coach of IPL 2022 winners Gujarat Titans, remarked, "Even Rassie van der Dussen was there. Even if you're looking at the left-right combination, you did bowl Axar Patel. So, I think you should've bowled Chahal around the tenth over. I can understand the thinking that you would want to contain the flow of runs, but once David Miller started hitting sixes off almost every over, you had to bring Chahal in."

"It is very surprising to me that a bowler like him only bowled 2 overs in that stage of the match. He should have bowled to the van der Dussen-Miller pair, especially at the stage when South Africa were back in the chase. Rishabh Pant surely made a mistake over there. He also was frantic in the powerplay, using five bowlers for six overs. The most important thing, though, was that Chahal should have been given an over or two in the middle phase and could have looked for wickets."

Nehra pointed out that if the Indian team management felt that Chahal should have bowled another over in the middle phase of the innings, they should have sent a message to Pant. "Rishabh Pant is a young captain, he's just 24-25 right now. He will learn and hopefully, he will get better as a skipper."

"Now, if Rahul Dravid feels that Chahal should bowl an over, a message can be sent as dugout is there and decisions have to be taken quickly. They have to keep things simple and be proactive, as talking of things in hindsight isn't fruitful."

With South Africa now 1-0 ahead in the five-match series, India would be looking to bounce back when the second match happens in Cuttack on Sunday.