Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Capitals (DC) captain, was not a happy man after his dismissal as he was seen hitting the curtains near the sight-screen in angst during his team’s IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR), on March 28.

The match played in Jaipur, saw Pant winning the toss and inviting RR to bat first. DC had a dream start where the RR top three, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, and captain Sanju Samson were dismissed cheaply.

However, cameos from R Ashwin (29), Dhruv Jurel (20), and Shimron Hetmyer (14*), gave support to Riyan Parag, who powered RR to 185/5 in 20 overs. Parag made 84* in 45 balls with 7 fours and 6 sixes.

In response, David Warner (49) and Mitchell Marsh (23) gave DC a flying start, but they lost wickets consistently. Rishabh Pant, playing competitive cricket for the first time in 14 months, made 28 in 26 balls while Tristan Stubbs (44*) and Akshar Patel (15*) kept DC in the hunt pf the target.

But in the end, DC finished on 173/5 and lost by 12 runs.

The disappointment and frustration were evident on Pant, which came to a boil when Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed him. Sensing a big shot from Pant, Chahal bowled a flatter delivery outside off stump. Pant had to wait a bit for the ball to arrive. He went on the back foot to cut it but got an inner edge to keeper Sanju Samson.

While walking back to the changeroom, Pant could not hold back his frustration and was seen smashing his bat against the curtains which are a part of the sight screen.

Here is the video:

After the match, DC skipper Rishabh Pant could not hide his disappointment after their second loss in two matches so far in IPL 2024.

“Definitely disappointed. The 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,” Pant said in the post-match chat.

When Pant was asked if he should have turned to South African pacer Anrich Nortje much sooner rather than hold him back for the death overs, he said: “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 praised his opening batters David Warner and Mitchell Marsh for a good start.

“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,” he said.