Following Delhi Capitals' (DC) four-run win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, DC skipper Rishabh Pant reveald why he gave the penultimate over to pacer Rasikh Salam.
All-round performances from DC guided them to victory over Gujarat at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
"Nortje was having a tough time. T20 is a funny game, after 14-15 overs the ball was coming on nicely. So we wanted to trust Rasikh. Always trust someone who is bowling well in a game. I think it is about instincts as a captain, it will come off sometimes. Happy it worked today," said Pant.
Nortje conceded 48 runs in three overs and took a wicket. His third over saw him get hit for 24 runs. Rasikh was given the 19th over with 37 runs to defend and the bowler repaid the skipper's faith by giving away 18 runs, but taking the wicket of Sai Kishore who was looking threatening.
The captain also said that with DC at 43/3, they wanted to attack GT's main spinners.
"Surely at 43/3, we wanted to just keep going and target their main spinners. If we get something, we will take it on and keep rotating the strike.
"Every day that I am in the middle, I feel better. Every hour on the field matters, I love being on the field. I try to give it my 100 per cent and it takes some time sometimes. I think the first six in the match gave me confidence in a game. The more time I spend in the centre, the better I feel," he added.
