Former Indian cricket team star Murali Kartik blasted Delhi Capitals for not giving Prithvi Shaw a chance after their eight-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. DC batters failed to impress once again as Pathum Nissanka top-scored with 50 to take their total to 142/8 in 20 overs. KKR, in reply, chased down the target with more than five overs to spare with Finn Allen scoring a sensational century. DC suffered a mini-collapse after a good start as Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs and skipper Axar Patel failed to perform. In a discussion on Cricbuzz, Kartik pointed out that they should use Prithvi Shaw as an opener as it provides them flexibility to tinker with their batting order. DC bought Prithvi for Rs 75 lakh in the IPL 2026 auction.
“If you have Prithvi Shaw. Okay, he has been in the wilderness for the last two years. You brought him back and you picked him in the auction. You have picked him on the basis of some logic and you have not looked at him. If you pick him at the top, it opens up for you. You have a gun opener. He is there for a reason. You are looking at everyone except for Prithvi,” he said.
Axar Patel admitted that both his team’s batters and bowlers let the side down after Delhi Capitals suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders, virtually ending their IPL 2026 playoff hopes, while indicating the team had already begun looking ahead to the next season.
DC endured a miserable outing at home, managing only 142/8, which Kolkata Knight Riders chased down in just 14.2 overs, powered by a blistering unbeaten 100 from Finn Allen and his destructive stand with Cameron Green (33 not out) as the visitors tore apart the bowling attack.
With just eight points from 11 matches, DC are eighth on the table, while KKR revived their playoff hopes with a resurgent run, moving to seventh with nine points from 10 outings, though their road to the knockouts still remains difficult.
“For now, we’ll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there’s still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we’ll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take,” said Axar after the match.
“Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make,” he added, hinting at a possible major overhaul next season.
(With PTI inputs)
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