It was a questionable decision from Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill not to introduce Sai Kishore in the middle-order overs, when Delhi Capitals (DC) batters were rotating strike rate with ease. In IPL 2025, Game 35, Sai Kishore asked to bowl only the last over of the first innings. He delivered exactly what the skipper asked him to do— offered only 9 runs and took the wicket of Ashutosh Sharma. But why did Gill introduce Kishore so late?

Delhi Capitals displayed an all-round batting performance against GT at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The stadium has a reputation for recording multiple high-scoring matches; the surface of the ground is often found to be batting-friendly.

The Capitals' batters discovered the surface is ideal for a big total, and they did start their innings with flowing runs. Experienced Ishant Sharma was the only exception from GT's bowling department, who took a wicket and in exchange had a 6.33 economy rate. Other than Ishant, Prasidh Krishna was the best performer with the ball, bagging 4 scalps with a 10.25 economy rate. 

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Krishna, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, and Arshad Khan all were expensive, with an economy rate of around 10 in total. So why did Shubman Gill not prefer Sai to slow down the opponent's strike rate? 

A bold decision by Shubman Gill 

A possible answer is Axar Patel, Delhi Capitals skipper himself. Sai Kishore has a very poor record against Axar. Whenever the young spinner bowled, Patel, something exciting happened, mostly in favor of Axar. He has experience batting against the spinner with a pretty high strike rate. 

Delhi Capitals already was running with a high strike rate margin; Axar was in the middle of the park with the bat. In that scenario, Gill probably chose the safest option, not to use Sai Kishore as a bowler as long as Axar Patel was on the field. GT's none of their strategy was able to restrict Delhi from grabbing a total of 203 runs in their 20 overs limit.