‘Could have done better’, feels DC skipper Pant after loss against MI

MUMBAI: After his team lost in the must-win match against Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant felt that his side could have done better.

Clinical knocks by MI batters on Saturday helped five-time champions in finishing their IPL 2022 campaign on a high as they defeated DC by 5 wickets here at Wankhede Stadium.

“For most of the game, we were on top. On occasions, we let the game slip away from our grasp when we were on top. That’s what we were doing throughout the season. Not good enough to win this match I guess. It’s not about pressure. We could have done better execution and planning,” said Rishabh Pant in a post-match presentation.

“Learn from mistakes and come back stronger next year. We were 5-7 runs short but we bowled really well. We bowled well throughout the tournament, but dew came in towards the end and we didn’t bowl to our plans. It’s hard but we got to take it on our chin and learn from it,” he added.

Chasing 160, Mumbai had a cautious start as they had scored 62/1 in 10 overs. At the end of 15 overs, they lost precious wickets of set batters, Ishan and Kishan and Dewald Brevis.

In the 16th over, DC had got a chance of another breakthrough as Tim David was caught behind but he signalled not out by the umpire. Pant ended up not taking the DRS and David remained not out. It was further revealed that the MI batter was actually out as his bat was involved.

This mistake heavily cost DC as David went on to score 34 runs off 11 balls and turned the momentum in MI’s favour.

“I thought there was something (about not reviewing the Tim David caught behind). Everyone standing in the circle wasn’t convinced and at the end I didn’t go up,” said Pant.

With MI’s win, Royal Challengers Bangalore have qualified for the playoffs while DC have crashed out of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League.