The courage he showed was amazing: Dhawan on Deshpande
Dubai: Delhi Capitals’ (DC) stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan was all praise for debutant Tushar Deshpande after their 13-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday.
Deshpande got his first wicket in the form of the dangerous Ben Stokes and then bowled the last over which sealed the deal for DC at the Dubai International Stadium.
“The courage he (Deshpande) showed, the line and length he bowled was amazing,” said Dhawan in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“He took the very important wicket of Stokes and from there the momentum changed for us. It was important for us to win, have to keep the momentum. It’s a long tournament. Will keep the process going.”
Dhawan captained the team for much of the RR innings after Shreyas Iyer walked off with a shoulder injury in the early exchanges. “He’s (Iyer) in pain but his shoulder is moving. We’ll get proper report tomorrow,” said Dhawan.
Chasing a target of 162, RR got off to a good start with Stokes and Jos Buttler putting up an opening stand of 37 in the first three overs but Dhawan said that team was confident of getting back into the game.
“It was important we stayed positive as a team. We knew their batting isn’t deep and if we got their top-order we can get them. Our bowling unit is quite experienced, right from our fast bowlers to the spinners,” he said.
