Known as the most successful Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps tried his hand at cricket with IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. He attempted to learn the rules and different aspects of the game. Though Phelps couldn’t make a career in cricket, he surely enjoyed watching Delhi Capitals take on Chennai Super Kings at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. Michael Phelps is arguably the greatest ever competitive swimmer with a total of 28 Olympic medals to his name.
Michael Phelps played some cricket with the players of Delhi Capitals. Phelps was trying to learn some of the cricketing traits while the cricketers were trying to learn some swimming lessons from the legendary figure. Players like Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris and fast bowler Ishant Sharma was seen chatting with Phelps.
“I don’t think cricket is my next sport but I loved seeing the match with the Delhi Capitals yesterday,” Phelps said. “It was nice to see how excited the crowd was and to see how the players shift when there is a change of ends or a dismissal. I loved watching the sixes yesterday, and definitely, today has been about getting a couple of tips from the boys, starting with how to hold a bat. So I’m sure I will be better prepared to play cricket when I visit India next.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals lost their 2nd match against the Chennai Super Kings in the last over. The DC Capitals bowlers did a good job to take the last to the last over. However, it was Dwayne Bravo who struck the winning runs and sealed the deal for the yellow brigade. DC started off with a resounding victory by 37 runs against the Mumbai Indians which was largely built around a great knock of 78 of 27 deliveries from Rishabh Pant.
The wicket-keeper batsman shared a light moment with Michael Phelps. Pant was asked how would he convince the American legend to play the game. Pant said that he would just tell him that he is most welcome in his house and can stay there as long as he wants where Pant can teach Phelps some traits of cricket.
“I would just tell him that he is most welcome to stay at my place for as long as he wants, where I can teach him how to play the sport.” The 33-year-old American replied with, “That sounds good to me, and it means that I am coach-able which makes me happy.”
Meanwhile all-rounder Chris Morris who joined the franchise later also spoke with Michael Phelps and called him an absolute legend.
“Like I said the man is an absolute legend. He is the all-time leading Gold Medal winner at the Olympics. It is quite an honour for us to interact with him and I am very excited to see him today. Michael Phelps is a name that is synonymous with Olympics, and there are two Olympians who have become household names, and it is Phelps and Usain Bolt so I’m really buzzing.”
DC and Team India fast bowler Ishant Sharma also spoke on meeting the man with 28 Olympic medals. “It was a great opportunity for all of us to have met him. You know he’s a world champion and we shared a few moments with him as well. He has been a huge motivation to athletes around the world over the years, and it was the same for all of us at the Delhi Capitals today,” said Ishant Sharma.
Here is the video:
Our #DC boys had a fun day out meeting the Olympic legend @MichaelPhelps today ?
@UnderArmour_ind#ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/pBS14dNllQ
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) March 27, 2019
Delhi Capitals play their 3rd game of the tournament against the Kolkata Knight Riders on 30th March. They have a strong unit this time around and will definitely look to get back to winning ways in the next match. Rishabh Pant will look to get his Orange cup back after Nitish Rana went past his tally of runs after a good knock yesterday against the Kings XI Punjab.