Dew made it difficult to grip the ball, says Pant after defeat against RCB

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has rallied behind pacer Avesh Khan, saying anyone can have a bad day and it is important to not stress much on one single bad performance.

Srikar Bharat and Glenn Maxwell played unbeaten knocks of 78 and 51 respectively as RCB defeated Delhi Capitals by seven wickets at the Dubai International Stadium. On the last ball, RCB needed five for a win, and Bharat ended up hitting the ball for a six off the bowling of Avesh Khan.

"We cannot say much about that, anyone can have a bad day at the field. We are just looking to improve ourselves everyday. We learn from our mistakes, that's an area of concern and we will look to improve," Pant said during a virtual press conference.

 

"Shikhar Dhawan is fine. I have no idea what's the update on him. Last over, we had plans of keeping it simple and bowling slower balls and yorkers. Dew came in so it was difficult to grip the ball. Avesh Khan has been fantastic this season, anyone can have a bad day so we will not focus much on that," he added.

Earlier, Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan played knocks of 48 and 43 as Delhi Capitals posted a total of 164/5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Apart from Dhawan and Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer also got among the runs as he played a knock of 29. For RCB, Mohammed Siraj returned with two wickets.

Delhi Capitals finished at the top spot in the points table and now the side will square off against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Qualifier 1 on Sunday. On the other hand, RCB finished at the third spot and Virat Kohli's team will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator on Monday.