Two days after losing his father, youngster comes back to play brilliant knock for Delhi Daredevils, but his teammates fail to support him as hosts win by 15 runs
A couple of days back, he was in grief after his father’s sudden death due to a cardiac arrest. Two days later, Rishabh Pant was back doing his duty for his team — Delhi Daredevils. It was just like what his icon Virat Kohli once did when his state team, Delhi, needed him the most in the Ranji Trophy on the day his father expired.
Pant, who comes from the same state as the India captain, put his sorrow on the backburner and played a knock that will be remembered for years.
On Saturday night in Benglauru, the youngster scored a crucial half-century for the Daredevils against Royal Challengers Bangalore but that wasn’t enough to take his team to the finishing line and do justice to his commendable efforts. The Shane Watson-led outfit ended on the winning note by 15 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after putting up 157/8.
The youngster, who got his second IPL half-century, did not even celebrate the milestone while the dug out stood and clapped for him.
While the other Delhi batsmen struggled against a decent RCB bowling unit, Pant was at ease on the crease. He pulled seamers Shane Watson and Tymal Mills and also slogged swept left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla with finesse.
When 19 was needed in the last over, Watson brought in left-arm spinner Pawan Negi who got Pant out off the first ball, ending all hopes of a Delhi win.
This was Bangalore’s first win of the season after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL-10 opener on Wednesday.
Earlier, Kedar Jadhav played a lone hand with a brilliant 69 off just 37 balls in Bangalore’s total of 157.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, RCB began on a brisk pace but lost two quick wickets early on and that put brakes on their scoring rate.
Jadhav then produced an excellent innings as he shifted gears from being watchful to hitting a flurry of big shots to the huge cheers of home supporters.
But once Delhi captain Zaheer Khan ended Jadhav’s innings in the 17th over, RCB could add just 15 runs off the remaining three overs with Chris Morris picking up two more wickets to restrict RCB to a modest total.
Jadhav hit five fours and as many sixes in his 37-ball knock. None of the other RCB batsmen could contribute much with captain Shane Watson’s 24 being the next highest.
For Delhi, Morris took three wickets for 21 runs while Zaheer grabbed two wickets from 31 as Delhi bowlers produced a disciplined show.
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 "Rishabh Pant")
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