The beauty of the IPL has reflected yet again as another youngster stole the show with an emphatic display of batting. Rishabh Pant batted exceptionally to maul the Gujarat Lions in a one-sided run chase at Rajkot. Pant, who recently represented the Indian U19 team at the U19 World Cup-timed his strokes to perfection as watching him bat was a lovely sight indeed.
Delhi however, made an early impact with the ball, as skipper Zaheer Khan dismissed destructive batsman Brendon McCullum cheaply. Dwayne Smith and Aaron Finch too made their way back and it needed a special partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja to help the Lions post a competitive total. But once Pant and De Knock began, the total wasn’t challenging enough and the Daredevils won with 16 balls to spare.
In the post-match presentation, Lions skipper Suresh Raina pointed out his side’s batting as the reason for the loss. “It’s disappointing. Even in the previous game, we didn’t bat well. They had a brilliant partnership in the first six overs. Still we have a long way to go and have to play well. More than the batting, Bravo’s bowling with all the variations were missed,” said a somber Raina.
Raina however, thanked the people of Gujarat for supporting the team at Rajkot. “We will be playing a few games away from home now, and we have done well in away games. Want to thank the people of Gujarat. Thanks to Niranjan Shah for supporting us too. Sometimes we don’t know what the wicket is going to be – sometimes we have to defend, sometimes we have to chase a score. We’ll have a few meetings and see how it goes,” said Raina.