IPL 2018: The top tactical decisions that went under the radar

#7 The Prithvi Shaw Show

Like mentor, like player — Like mentor, like

Ricky Ponting's track record in the IPL is quite recognised, though not as a player. He stepped down as captain after a disastrous start to Mumbai Indians' title-winning 2012 season and brought up youngsters like Hardik and Krunal Pandya during his time as a coach there.

In short, a man unafraid of making big, bold calls, even in the middle of a season when the title is at stake. This time again, after Gambhir's struggles with the bat early on and his eventual stepping down from captaincy, Ponting, now Delhi Daredevils' head coach, backed highly-rated youngster Prithwi Shaw to open the batting.

Shaw has been making waves in the Under-19 and domestic first-class circuits for quite some time now, but before IPL 2018, he was a T20 newbie, having played just one game. It turned out to be an inspired change, as his fearless hitting at the top of the order, along with fellow youngsters Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer carried the Daredevils' batting for the rest of the season. So much that even with the likes of Colin Munro and Jason Roy at their disposal, they backed their Indian talent enough to play just three overseas players by the end of the tournament.

Along with Shaw, a little has to be mentioned about the two others as well - Iyer and Pant. Pant had a really explosive season, amassing 684 runs in 14 matches, including a career-best 128. Iyer was by no means poor either. He too had a good run, scoring over 400 runs, eclipsing the likes of fellow captains Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and so on in the list of run-scorers. Even though DD failed to make it big this time around, these three youngsters are heavy positives that they can carry on towards the next season.

Do you think that were any other tactical decisions that went under the radar? Let us know in the comments section below