Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant’s comeback to cricket after 14 months of the horrific car accident hasn’t been ideal for the wicketkeeper-batter. Pant has got starts in the first two games but hasn’t been able to convert them into big scores. On March 28, against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Pant looked settled in the run chase but lost his wicket to Yuzvendra Chahal in an attempt to play square of the wicket. After losing his wicket, Pant vented out his frustration while walking back to the dressing room and smashed his bat on the side of the tunnel.
Pant walked out to bat in the fourth over of the run chase after Nandre Burger got rid of opener Mitchell Marsh and Ricky Bhui. In his milestone 100th game for the Capitals, he played second fiddle to opener David Warner. In the 10th over, he showed signs of aggression and smashed Chahal for a six over deep mid-wicket.
After Warner's wicket in the 12th over and the required run rate climbing up, Pant tried to play the cut shot but edged one to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson and lost his wicket. He scored 28 runs from 26 balls including two fours and a six.
Despite Tristan Stubbs' 23-ball 44, DC failed to chase down the target of 186 and lost the match by 12 runs. This was DC's second defeat of the season.
Pant backs his bowlers
“Definitely disappointed. Best thing we can do from this is learn from it. The bowlers did really well till 15-16 overs, batters sometimes go on at the death and score quickly, that happened in this game. Marsh and Warner gave a good start, but we lost a few wickets in the middle overs and in the end we had too many runs to cover up. There are other options, we wanted Nortje to bowl at the death and sometimes you can go for runs, hopefully we can do better in the next match,” Pant said in the post-match presentation.
DC's next match will be against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Vizag on March 31. It will be the first time DC will be playing their home game in Vizag.
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