Did Axar get his choice of bowlers at the death wrong?

Axar Patel has been getting positive reviews for his leadership in his debut season as captain in the IPL, but did he get it wrong against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday night? RCB had the upper hand against Delhi Capitals (DC) as the match neared its closing stages but, as Anil Kumble, Wasim Jaffer and Sanjay Bangar pointed out after the game, shuffling the order of the bowler Axar used at the death might have made a difference.

When the 17th over started, RCB needed 38 runs from 24 balls. Quite simple, ordinarily, but this wasn't a pitch where run-scoring was easy. Mukesh Kumar bowled, and Krunal Pandya and Virat Kohli took 12 off him. Dushmantha Chameera gave away nine off the next. And then it was suddenly all over as Mukesh was hit for 6, 4, 4, 4 in the 19th by Tim David. Mitchell Starc had an over left. And Vipraj Nigam had bowled just one.

"I don't know [what DC were thinking]. When you have 18-19 runs [the requirement was 17 from two overs] to defend in the last two overs, you give the 19th over to your best bowler, to take it till the end," Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show. "I was surprised that he gave the ball to Mukesh and not Starc. The result might have been the same, but the intent was wrong."

The intent was likely to give Starc eight-nine runs to defend off the last over, perhaps because of what he had achieved in that thriller against Rajasthan Royals (RR).

"It must be the hangover from the [game against RR]. Axar must have thought that since Starc had defended nine runs in that last over, so let's give this to Mukesh and see," Bangar said. "It might have worked, but the thought process was wrong. Your best bowler should have bowled that over. Even if Starc had conceded, say, 12 runs, you have a legspinner [Nigam] for the last over if you don't want to bowl Mukesh. Spinners sometimes create magical moments. It was a mistake on Axar's part."

Was there a lack of faith in Nigam's abilities, perhaps? Nigam is a newbie, but hasn't done badly in his debut season for DC, with nine wickets so far at an economy rate of 9.34. But in nine games, he has bowled only 23 overs out of a possible 36. The left-handed and in-form Krunal's presence in the middle might have forced Axar to ignore the legspinner.

"I felt he [Axar] didn't show enough trust in Vipraj," Jaffer said. "Maybe he could have been given two-three overs too. Maybe it could have had an effect. Because at that stage [if a wicket had fallen], two overseas batters [David and Romario Shepherd] would have been there and they might have found it tough. Jitesh [Sharma] was the main batter left then."

Fortunately for DC, the loss hasn't pushed them out of the race for the playoffs. They are still at No. 4 with six wins out of nine. Their next three games are against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) - the first two are among the bottom-four teams on the table, and PBKS have also been up and down, so DC would back themselves to win more often than they lose before their last two games, tough assignments against Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT).