Delhi Capitals registered a thrilling win in the Super Over against SunRisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League match here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday evening.
Following the heart-wrenching loss SRH skipper David Warner said dropping Manish Pandey from the playing XI was a 'harsh call'.
IPL veteran Pandey, who hasn't been scoring at a quick clip, was dropped for a much younger Jharkhand left-hander Virat Singh, who scored only 4 off 14 balls.
"It depends on the selectors, it was a harsh call as per my opinion," Warner said, training his guns at coach Trevor Bayliss and mentor VVS Laxman, without naming them.
Bayliss and Laxman have a big say on team's playing XI.
"But at the end of the day it is a decision that they took and you cannot discredit Virat. He's a very good player and the surface was difficult. They bowled well in the middle and made it challenging for us," Warner came to the young man's defence.
"It has been a tough one. The way our bowlers came back after the Powerplay was fantastic. We knew on this surface if you got off to a flier, it is always going to be tough in the middle, the bowlers executed well," said Warner.
"I thought Vijay Shankar, who is not one of our strike bowlers, bowled fantastically. We could have bowled him an extra one, that's the handiness of having him in the middle but the bowlers got us to a good total to chase. Obviously Jonny (Bairstow) at the top of the order and Kane Williamson taking it deep, we couldn't bat well in the middle overs," he stressed.
Warner was run out as SRH began the chase and the skipper only managed six runs off eight balls.
"They bowled well in the middle and made it challenging for us. If you hit the ball to a world-class fielder, you are going to get run out nine times out of 10," Warner said.