IPL 2020: Tom Moody Left Surprised With Delhi Capitals Trading Trent Boult To Mumbai Indians

Former Australia batsman, Tom Moody is perplexed about the decision of Delhi Capitals (DC) to trade New Zealand pacer, Trent Boult to Mumbai Indians (MI) before the start of the tournament.

The Capitals were involved the most in importing and exporting players before the auctions for the past couple of years. While incoming players like Shikhar Dhawan and Ravichandran Ashwin have been successful, their decision to let go off star pacer, Trent Boult was questionable – they passed him on to the champions of IPL 2019, Mumbai Indians!

To me, that was an extraordinary move: Tom Moody

The move to trade Boult to Mumbai came to bite Delhi back in one of the league matches and later in Qualifier 1. The left-arm pacer took 3/21 and 2/9 in two of the three matches against his former team dismantling the Delhi top order.

Tom Moody recently spoke about the move, calling it extraordinary. While the venue of UAE was not known, the Australian said that Boult would have been deadly at the Wankhede as well because the ball would swing in Mumbai.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Tom Moody said, “To me that was an extraordinary move. And I know that at that point at that trade, they didn’t know that the tournament was going to move to the UAE. But even so, Trent Boult would be deadly in Mumbai because that is one venue where the ball would swing.”

The 55-year-old opined that Boult is one the best bowlers with the new ball in the powerplay and to give him to one of the strongest teams is extraordinary. The left-arm seamer took 23 wickets in 19 matches for Delhi. For Mumbai, he has picked 22 wickets in 14 matches at a better economy.

The former SRH coach feels that DC should have let him go in the auctions to free off some purse. MI has been smart in their trades over the past couple of seasons. Before the 2019 IPL, they brought in Quinton de Kock from RCB, and the South-African has been achieved huge success under Rohit Sharma.

“And Boult is one of the best powerplay bowlers in the IPL so to gift him to one of the strongest teams, if not the strongest team of the whole tournament, an ace like that, it’s extraordinary. If they were wanting to cash their chips in so to speak with Trent Boult, they should have just done it through the auction and let not only Mumbai but other teams fish around for Trent Boult,” Moody added.

The Delhi Capitals are having a disappointing second half of the season. They were humiliated by Mumbai in Qualifier 1 and will face a rampant Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Sunday.

Mumbai will play their second consecutive IPL final on Tuesday. They will meet the winner of Qualifier 2 between Hyderabad and Delhi. The Rohit Sharma-led outfit has been the most dominant team of the season, finishing the league stage at the top of the points table, and will start the final as overwhelming favourites.

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