Rishabh Pant, with his 78 off 36 balls, starred for Delhi Capitals as his belligerent knock helped the side defeat Rajasthan Royals by 6 wickets and go to the top of the points table.
Put into bat by Delhi, Rajasthan Royals piled up a massive score of 191/6, courtesy, Ajinkya Rahane’s 105 off 58 deliveries.
Chasing 192, Delhi got off to a flier as Shikhar Dhawan (54 off 27) raced away to his 4th half-century of the season. Delhi lost Shreyas Iyer quickly and that paved way for Rishabh Pant to take the field. With the side needing 115 of the last 11.1 overs, Pant played his shots from the very start.
Supported by Prithvi Shaw at the other end, Pant raced away to his 50 off just 26 balls.
Pant smashed a six off the last ball of the penultimate over to bring down the equation to 6 runs in the last 6 balls. Delhi Capitals eventually won the game by 6 wickets after Pant smacked Unadkat for another six off the second ball of the last over.
Twitter was all praise for the southpaw. Here are few of the reactions:
Dinesh Karthik was preferred over Rishabh Pant in the 15-man squad for the World Cup. Selectors mentioned Dinesh Karthik’s superior wicket keeping skills as the reason for his inclusion in the squad.
Rishabh Pant has had a pretty average IPL season so far. He has often been criticised for throwing his wicket away and not finishing the games.
Nonetheless, he has made a strong statement on Monday night and will look to carry on as the tournament reaches its business end.
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