Rishabh Pant put on a show with the bat to lead the foundation for Delhi Capitals’ stunning win over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (March 24).
Pant scored a blistering 78* off 27 balls to help DC post 213/6 on the board. Afterwards, the bowlers came to the fore and restricted MI to 176 all-out in 19.2 overs.
Speaking after receiving the Man-of-the-Match award, Pant said he is “glad” to bat at any position his team wants him to.
“Well, I am glad to bat anywhere the team wants me to,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Coming in to bat after the dismissal of Colin Ingram (47) in the 13th over, Pant ripped apart every bowler who came his way as his innings included 7 fours and as many sixes.
Asked about his rapid rise to the top, Pant said, “It’s been a great journey, I’m trying to learn every day of my cricketing career. It feels good when your team wins. I always play according to the situation most of the time.
“This time I needed to increase the run rate for the team, and I took my chances, and it came off today. Especially in T20, you have to do something different. When the bowler cramps you for room, you need to make your own room.”
Lauding Pant’s knock, Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer said: “(Pant) is a really destructive batsman. Over the years I’ve seen him maturing a lot. He faced a few dot balls early on and then suddenly his strike rate was 250. Amazing batsman, great to have him on our team.”
Veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh top-scored for Mumbai Indians with 53 runs. Disappointed with the outcome, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma said he would change the team combination in the next game.
“First game is always a bit of a challenge for most of the teams. Lot of new players in the squad as well. We made a lot of mistakes today, as simple as that. We were pretty much in the game in the first 10 overs when we were bowling, but the way Rishabh batted, you’ve got to give him credit,” Rohit said.
“The combination might change for the next game. We want to see what combination the opposition plays and then decide. The ball was still coming on well when we batted. We ended up getting 180, still. Nobody went on to get a big score. Yuvi batted brilliantly, and there were a few cameos. If one of the top three or four had scored 70-80, things would have been different,” he concluded.
(With PTI inputs)
