IPL 2021: "Life isn't about ifs and buts, it's about what you do on the field" - Aakash Chopra on the Delhi Capitals failing to make the final

The Delhi Capitals came up short against the Kolkata Knight Riders [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra believes the Delhi Capitals (DC) have only themselves to blame for their exit from IPL 2021. He added that there is no point crying over spilled milk.

The Delhi Capitals suffered a three-wicket defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Qualifier 2 encounter and were eliminated from the current edition of the Indian Premier League. The Rishabh Pant-led side have been on the receiving end of edge-of-the-seat thrillers in their last three matches, with some strategic calls probably contributing to their losses.

While reflecting on the Delhi Capitals' exit from the tournament in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted the franchise might regret some of their on-field decisions for a long time. He elaborated:

"Delhi made a lot of self-goals. They lost to RCB on the last ball and then to Chennai. I feel they might still be thinking and might continue thinking till next year that they should have got Rabada to bowl the last over. But life is not about ifs and buts, it's about what you do on the field."

Speaking about the Delhi Capitals' batting effort in yesterday's encounter, the former India cricketer pointed out that they couldn't make the best use of a decent start. Chopra observed:

"Batting first was not a bad thing if you batted properly. You reached till 135. The start was alright but after that, the wagon became slower and slower. You were thinking the innings will gather momentum at some point but it didn't happen."

The Delhi Capitals were in a prime position to go on the charge after having reached a score of 65/1 at the end of the tenth over. However, they lost the wickets of Marcus Stoinis, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant in quick succession to fall behind the eight ball.

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"Tell me why you sent Marcus Stoinis at No. 3?" - Aakash Chopra criticizes the Delhi Capitals' team selection

Marcus Stoinis scored 18 runs off 23 deliveries during the Delhi Capitals' innings [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra reckons the Delhi Capitals should have played Steve Smith instead of Marcus Stoinis. He reasoned:

"Tell me, why you sent Marcus Stoinis at No. 3? If you had to play him at No. 3 and not get him to bowl, then you could have played Steve Smith. He [Stoinis] has not played a lot of matches in between, so you were absolutely fine if you had not played him. You could have Steve Smith as the fourth overseas player."

DC had their best chance to win the IPL trophy but they bottled it. Not giving bowling to Rabada in first qualifer and sending Stoinis at 3 on sluggish Sharjah wicket who just came from injury.

The former KKR player concluded by stating that the Delhi Capitals batters' failure to rotate strike cost them the match. Chopra explained:

"The Sharjah pitch template is to take singles, you won't get boundaries easily. You can hit a few sixes but nothing can happen easily. They played a lot of dot balls. There was a time around the 15th over mark, where you had played 50% dot deliveries. That is where you lost the game."

A match worthy of IPL folklore 🙌🏼

Good game, @KKRiders 💙💜

Here's wishing the Knights and @ChennaiIPL good luck for the #IPL2021 Final 🙌🏼

#YehHaiNayiDilli #KKRvDC https://t.co/DlD1HcP6NV

The Delhi Capitals bowlers tried to make a match of it, with the KKR batters committing harakiri towards the end. But Rahul Tripathi held his nerves to hit a six off the penultimate ball to see the two-time champions over the line.