Former Australian cricketer Aaron Finch has hit out at Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel for keeping himself and Kuldeep Yadav away from bowling in high-pressure moments during the team's IPL 2026 match against SRH. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav sent down four overs between them, handing the ball to part-time spinner Nitish Rana, who completed his quota, bowling four overs. However, he remained quite expensive, giving away 55 runs in his four overs.
"We've been sitting there scratching our heads, haven't we? Your two Indian premier spin bowlers, Axar Patel, the skipper [2-0-23-1], Kuldeep Yadav [2-0-30-0], they bowled four overs between them. A part-time offspinner in Nitish Rana has wheeled out four overs. To me that makes no sense,” Finch said on ESPNcricinfo.
Abhishek remained the run machine for SRH, smoking 135 off 68 balls. His innings featured 10 sixes and 10 boundaries, guiding the side to a powerful total of 242/2 in 20 overs. Chasing the total, Capitals could muster 195/9 in 20 overs, with Nitish Rana and Sameer Rizvi being the top scorers with 57 and 41, respectively. Meanwhile, Finch questioned Axar's captaincy, highlighting the tactical blunder.
“It's the responsibility of your captain, your senior player, your retained player, your best bowler, Indian bowler, he's one of your core bowlers in the Indian cricket team. That's no small bit. He's a double World Cup winner. So the fact that he doesn't trust himself to execute under pressure and to defend himself against any left-handers - as soon as a left-hander walks to the crease, not for me today, thanks. To me that says more about his attitude towards it than anything else,” he said.