Simons defends decision to drop Morkel – Cricket News Update
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 Daredevils’ decision to leave South African pacer Morne Morkel out of the playing XI for the team’s second Indian Premier League qualifier, which is being touted by many as the reason for their 86-run defeat at the hands of the Chennai Super Kings,
has been defended by coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Eric-Owen-Simons-c56137, who claims it was done in order to maintain “balance” in the team.
The Daredevils finished the league stage of the tournament at the top of the table, having dominated the competition throughout. However, they ran out of steam as they moved into the playoffs, losing the first qualifier against the Kolkata Knight Riders
by 18 runs, and following that up with their most recent defeat – an 86-run loss sustained at the hands of the Chennai Super Kings.
The line-up employed by the Daredevils team management for their match against the Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai on May 25, has attracted a fair amount of criticism, mainly owing to the absence of Morne Morkel, who is currently
the purple cap holder with most wickets in the tournament so far (25).
His absence was made even more poignant by the fact that his replacement, the little-known http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamil-Nadu-c853 off-spinner Sunny Gupta, bled a shocking 47 in 3 overs, and the Super Kings rode to victory on the strength of their batting line-up, racking up a daunting
222 score – the highest team total in the current season of the tournament. The Daredevils were unable to rise to the challenge, and crashed at 136, all out by the 17th over.
However, Simons feels that the move to bench Morkel was justified, seeing as it was made with the intent to maintain balance in the team. Irfan Pathan , who was out with a hand injury, was replaced by all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andre-Dwayne-Russell-c44235, which left the team in need
of a spinner in order to effectively tackle the Super Kings’ well-balanced batting order.
“When we do not have the services of Irfan Pathan, we needed to find balance,” Simons explained. “The question is not about http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Russell-c87177 bowled well giving away 29 runs, took a catch and scored 16 runs. He made a decent contribution. So … Russell
was the direct replacement for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601.”
“That is the decision we made and took our chance. Sunny was a risk. Obviously, Chennai are a very balanced side with four left-handers and four right-handers in the top eight … We had to take a decision to play someone who turns the ball away.”
However, the decisions proved costly. While Russell was able to make respectable contributions to the team’s performance, the move to play Gupta backfired spectacularly, consequently pushing the Daredevils out of the tournament.
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