India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara expressed his surprise over Pat Cummins choosing to bat first in the match against the Delhi Capitals. Normally, in a daytime game, winning the toss would lead a captain to field first since the pitch tends to be slower. Hyderabad had a solid start, scoring 286 runs in their first match against the Rajasthan Royals, which might have given Cummins the confidence to send his batters in for a big score.
All of their batters, from Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top to Cummins himself down the order, have been going hard from the start, but this aggressive strategy hasn’t worked in the last two games. Pujara mentioned, “I was really surprised they chose to bat first against DC. On a day game, you usually want to bowl first. I thought they should have bowled first. Their batting was too aggressive and not smart enough.” He also pointed out that if their success rate is only two wins out of ten, something needs to change.
For his part, Cummins is not too worried about the back-to-back losses after a strong start. He said it’s too early to stress, noting that they need to reassess their strategy and make minor adjustments for better results. Following this, Hyderabad will face the Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, on April 3rd.
