Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is known for his antics on the field. Be it batting or keeping, Pant never misses an opportunity to entertain his fans. The Delhi-lad once again captured everyone’s attention during the 41st game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 played between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
During the DC innings, Pant almost hit Karthik with his bat as the latter ducked at the right time to save himself. The incident took place on the first ball of the 17th over bowled by mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
The right-armer bowled a good length delivery on the off-stump, and Pant tried to hit the ball hard, but it got an inside edge and bounced once near the stumps. In order to keep the white leather away from timber, Pant tried to smash it without realizing Karthik was just standing near the stumps.
Fortunately, the KKR keeper was quick to react, and nothing serious happened. Pant later went to check Karthik, and then both had a laugh.
Here is the video:
https://twitter.com/Phoenix09004/status/1442827025123667974
Pant scored 39 runs as the Capitals could manage to post 127/9 on a slow Sharjah track. In reply, the Knight Riders chased down the paltry target in 18.2 overs with three wickets in hand.
After the match, the DC captain mentioned how difficult was it to bat at Sharjah. He stated that the Capitals were just 10 runs short of what could be the winning total. Pant heaped praises on his bowling unit while also admitting that they committed some mistakes and will learn from them.
“It (batting) was pretty difficult, especially for the new batsmen because the wicket was getting slower and slower. We just tried to dig in as long as possible so that we can capitalize in the end, but we lost some wickets later on. Because of that, we were 10 runs short,” said Pant at the post-match presentation.
“Really happy (with the bowling performance), but at Delhi Capitals, we learn from our mistakes. I don’t think there is a massive change that we have to do as a bowling unit, just some little things, but we’ll learn from our mistakes and move onto the next one,” he added.
