Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody has raised questions over Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson‘s captaincy throughout their defeat to Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2024. RR suffered their first lack of IPL 2024 on Wednesday after 4 wins on the bounce. Moody questioned Samson’s resolution to underutilise pacer Trent Boult with the ball. For the unversed, Boult bowled two overs and conceded eight runs in his first spell. However, Samson determined towards finishing his full quota of overs, bowling veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on the demise.

The former SRH coach Moody feels Samson’s resolution of underutilising Boult does not make any sense.

“You had to use Trent Boult at the back end. He’s certainly been used at the death before, and he’s got huge amount of experience. So when it comes to pressure, he’s used to absorbing that pressure and taking on those challenges. So i was really surprised that he wasn’t spent today. He left the park with two overs left in the bank, which doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Nothing against Ashwin, he is a very fine bowler. But he and Chahal went for 83 runs in their eight overs combined. To me, it was a real miss with Trent Boult. Unless there’s an injury or illness that we are not aware of,” Moody mentioned on ESPNcricinfo.

During the identical dialogue, former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta additionally questioned Samson resolution to make use of Ashwin over Boult within the seventeenth overs.

I can perceive Ashwin bowling the fifteenth over, however the seventeenth? If you take a look at the bowling unit, Boult is probably the most skilled quick bowler there. Irrespective of whether or not it is his power or not you are still going to bowl him at back-end. If he is acquired over left, you have to bowl him,” Deep Dasgupta questions Samson’s decision.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, former India opener Aakash Chopra also echoed the same sentiments as Moody and Dasgupta, saying that Boult should’ve been utilised in the middle overs.

“If you might be bowling with a dry ball, then in case you have scored sufficient runs, you need to have the bowling to defend it. The reality is that Rajasthan have the bowling. They did not play Nandre Burger however regardless of that, they’ve the bowling. Keshav Maharaj made his debut and so they acquired him to bowl solely two overs,” Chopra said in his YouTube channel.

“Why did Trent Boult bowl solely two overs? I did not perceive that. Two overs, eight runs, and he bowled solely two overs. Why? Keshav gave 16 runs in his two overs, so completely solely 24 runs went in these 4 overs. Trent Boult may have been given overs within the center however you did not try this. You went in direction of spinners,” he added.

Despite the defeat, RR sit top of the table after five games. They will now take on Punjab Kings on Saturday.