Irfan Pathan ignites Rohit vs Kohli captaincy debate as RCB defeat SRH, fans go berserk

With Virat Kohli leading RCB to another thrilling win on Wednesday, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan sparked off a fierce debate between fans as he pipped the Bangalore skipper's captaincy against Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma. Citing the strategic brilliance shown by both the captains in their match against Hyderabad and Kolkata respectively, Pathan in good faith, remarked that the Indian captains held an edge over the overseas leaders. While RCB rose from the ashes to defeat Hyderabad on Wednesday, Mumbai were brought back from the dead to clinch a last-over victory on Tuesday against KKR at the same venue - Chepauk. 

Pathan, who has played for Hyderabad and Chennai in the IPL, specifically made mention of Shahbaz Ahmed's 17th over which turned the game in RCB's favour as he heaped praise on Kohli. Similarly, in the match between MI and KKR, Rohit Sharma had been lauded for his aggressive field placements and bowling strategy against Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik as the defending champions clinched victory. However, despite Pathan's high praise on Indian captains, the comparison did not go down well with fans who squared off against each other in the Rohit Sharma vs Virat Kohli debate. Pathan's tweet was stormed by angry fans that filled up the comments section with their opinions on the debate. 

Here's how netizens reacted: 

RCB's last-over win 

Bangalore were reeling at 95/4 in the 14th over after being asked to bat first by Hyderabad skipper David Warner and that is when Glenn Maxwell stepped to the four and took the SRH bowlers to the cleaners as he played a counter-attacking knock. He was dismissed on the last ball of the innings for a brilliant 41-ball 59 and took RCB to a fighting total of 149/8 from their 20 overs.

In reply, skipper David Warner (54), and, Manish Pandey (39) added 83 runs for the third wicket and appeared as if they were cruising towards an easy win. However, once Warner was dismissed, the Orange Army suffered a dramatic batting collapse. The turning point of the contest came in the 17th over when left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed took three wickets in one over as he accounted for the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Pandey, and, Abdul Samad respectively, leading RCB to a 6-run victory.

On the other hand, inching towards defeat in their second encounter of the IPL 2021, Mumbai Indians staged a valiant comeback to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat on Tuesday against Kolkata Knight Riders. Setting a below-average target, Mumbai never seemed in contention for the win as Nitish Rana took the attack to the defending champions. During the second innings, KKR were 72/0 chasing a paltry total of 153 in Chennai until the defending champions turned things around. With Rahul Chahar dismissing the KKR top-order, Krunal Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah controlling the pace of runs towards the end and a thundering last over from Trent Boult, the Mumbai Indians won the game by 10 runs.