"Trent Boult walked off that park with two overs left in the bank"- Tom Moody slams RR skipper Sanju Samson's captaincy against GT in IPL 2024
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody was baffled with the way Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson used Trent Boult during their defeat against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Jaipur on Wednesday, April 10.
Boult bowled just two overs upfront, conceding only eight runs. However, Samson didn't go back to the veteran pacer for the rest of the game and Moody felt that was one of the main reasons why RR lost the game.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Tom Moody explained how Trent Boult's experience could have been handy for RR at the backend of GT's chase:
"You had to use Trent Boult at the end. He’s certainly bowled at the death before and has got a huge amount of experience. So when it comes to pressure, he is used to absorbing it and taking on those challenges. He’s walked off that park with two overs left in the bank, which makes no sense whatsoever," said Moody.
Former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta was also present on the panel and he agreed with Moody's opinion on Boult. He added:
"If you look at the bowling unit there, he (Boult) is the most experienced fast bowler there. Irrespecrive of whether it's his strength or not, you still got to back him. 15th and the 17th are not really end overs, they are like the end of the middle overs. If he has got two overs, you got to bowl him."
Despite needing 73 runs off their final five overs, the Titans managed to get over the line on the last ball. The likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, and Avesh Khan couldn't control the carnage at the death.
Tom Moody on why Trent Boult should have bowled over Ashwin
Tom Moody felt Trent Boult should have bowled the 17th over instead of Ravichandran Ashwin. While the veteran off-spinner is a quality bowler, he had an off day and conceded 17 runs in that particular over to give away the momentum to the chasing side.
On this, Moody stated:
"It's nothing against Ashwin. He is a quality bowler. But him and Chahal together went for 83 runs in their 8 overs, which is pretty heavy. Ao I certainly think it was a miss with Trent Boult unless there's an injury or illness that we don't know about."
The Royals faced their first setback of the IPL 2024 season against GT and will be keen to go back to the drawing board and address the death bowling issues, especially in the absence of the injured Sandeep Sharma.