Batting legend Virender Sehwag, who is known to speak his mind, didn’t shy away from bashing Rishabh Pant during the IPL 2024 clash between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday (April 3).

Chasing 273 to win, DC’s innings folded for 166 in 17.2 overs. While skipper Pant (55 off 25) and Tristan Stubbs (54 off 32) slammed quickfire half-centuries, they didn’t get adequate support from the other end.

However, Sehwag stated that Pant should have spent more time in the middle instead of throwing his wicket.

“Yes, Pant's innings was good. But you didn't score much in the first two games, and now, when you're scoring runs, you are giving your wicket away. You should have stayed, reached a century, and remained unbeaten on 110 or 120. Because runs dry pretty fast,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

Sehwag mentioned that the DC captain could have played a little extra to get some practice under his belt as the outcome of the match was more or less decided after the first innings itself.

“His batting was good, he has come back to form and is scoring at a brilliant strike rate. ‘Aaj vaise bhi pehle over se pata tha ki haarne waale hain, jeetenge toh nahi’ (Today, we knew from the very first over that they weren't going to win). This was the time to do some batting practice. Instead of going to nets now, you could've played 20 extra deliveries here. Then you could've probably skipped practice overall and returned in the next match straightaway,” he added.

Notably, Rishabh Pant made his comeback to competitive cricket in the ongoing IPL after recovering from a life-threatening car accident in December 2022. In four innings so far, the southpaw has registered scores of 18, 28, 51 and 55.

Talking about DC’s campaign, they have suffered defeat in three out of their four games thus far. The Capitals are currently holding the ninth spot on the points table, featuring 10 teams.

Delhi Capitals will next face Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (April 7).