NEW DELHI: Rising Pune Supergiant top-scorer Manoj Tiwary took the responsibility for his team’s loss to Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday night. Tiwary scored 60 but failed to finish the contest as Pune lost by seven runs.
“I want to take the complete blame for that because I was the batsman who was set. Before the last over we couldn’t get any boundaries at that point of time and I was the man who was on strike. I was not able to connect,” said a dejected Tiwary.
At one stage, Pune needed 52 from the final five overs with seven wickets in hand.
For many, M.S. Dhoni’s run out from a direct hit by Mohammed Shami was an important factor in Pune’s loss.
“Dhoni is a game-changer,” noted Shami. “He is such a fast runner and I thought it was a 50-50 situation. I took a chance because a wicket then would have helped us win.”
On the bowling tactics, Shami said the team had planned to deny Ben Stokes the width. “You have to plan for every batsman. If Plan ‘A’ doesn’t work you try Plan ‘B’. We had decided not to give any width to Stokes who likes to hit. Our plan worked.”
The scores:
Delhi Daredevils 168 for eight in 20 overs (Karun Nair 64, Rishabh Pant 36, Marlon Samuels 27, Jaydev Unadkat two for 29, Ben Stokes two for 31) bt Rising Pune Supergiant 161 for seven in 20 overs (Steve Smith 38, Manoj Tiwary 60, Ben Stokes 33, Zaheer Khan two for 25, Mohammed Shami two for 37).
