IPL 2021: Captaincy Is Going Great With Ricky Ponting In Our Management, Says Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant, Delhi Capitals skipper gave an insight into his leadership style and how he has benefitted from having Ricky Ponting as the head coach after Delhi Capitals registered a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra spun a web over Mumbai Indians before Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith played knocks of 45 and 33 respectively as Delhi Capitals registered a win here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. Amit Mishra had picked four wickets to help Delhi Capitals restrict Mumbai Indians to 137/9.

Rishabh Pant Credits Seniors And Ricky Ponting For Lifting Pressure Off Him As Delhi Skipper

Delhi Capitals, who were chasing a target of 138, made two changes from the previous game, bringing in Shimron Hetmyer and Amit Mishra.

“I think, yes, as a wicketkeeper I keep on reading the game and it helps me a lot. With seniors around and Ricky Ponting in our management, I think my captaincy is going great,” said Rishabh Pant while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.

Delhi played its first three games in Mumbai and then the side has moved to Chennai to play its next set of matches.

When asked about the difficulty of traveling in such times, Rishabh Pant said: “I think it’s slightly challenging because of Covid. But as a team, we are not focusing on outside things. BCCI has done really well to give us a good bubble and traveling thing. We are focusing more on cricket.”

Amit Mishra scalped four important wickets while Shikhar Dhawan led from the top with the bat to get DC over the line against MI.  MI opted to bowl first on a dry wicket in Chennai and made one change – Jayant Yadav replaced Adam Milne in the playing XI. With this win, Rishabh Pant’s Delhi is now in 2nd spot with 3 wins from 4 matches having 6 points.

Amit Mishra Picks 4 Scalps Including Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, And Ishan Kishan To Be Awarded, MOM

Marcus Stoinis handled the new ball responsibility very well and got an early wicket for DC after Quinton de Kock edged one to the wicketkeeper and walked back to the pavilion. But the MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav backed their aggression and took on Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling variations.

They further attacked Kagiso Rabada’s pace and brought up 14 runs off the fifth over. MI was 55-1 at the end of the powerplay. Suryakumar Yadav nicked one to Rishabh Pant and Avesh Khan broke the 58-run stand, scalping his first wicket.

Amit Mishra came in to bowl the ninth over that started MI’s collapse. The leg-spinner picked the well-settled Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya in one over after both right-handers holed out to Steve Smith at long-on.

Amit Mishra scalped his third wicket, trapping Kieron Pollard before the wickets for 2. Amit Mishra bagged his fourth wicket of the innings and brought an end to Ishan Kishan’s stay in the crease.

Shikhar Dhawan continues to be the Delhi Capitals’ premier batsman, guiding the tricky chase with a 42-ball 45. Amit Mishra‘s 4 for 24 was the best bowling figure for a Delhi Capitals bowler against Mumbai in IPL history, and he ran rings around a line-up that had been 67 for 1, going at nearly ten per over. Mumbai eventually ended with just 137 for 9, with Amit Mishra’s strikes ensuring the Capitals stifled the defending champions.

Delhi Capitals needed 15 runs in the last two overs and batsmen Shimron Hetmyer and Lalit Yadav ensured the side didn’t falter at the end. Moreover, Jasprit Bumrah’s two no-balls in the penultimate over made the job a lot easier for the batsmen.

Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant failed to score much but Shikhar Dhawan, Steve Smith, Lalit Yadav, and Shimron Hetmyer ensured Delhi’s victory by 6 wickets.

“As a player, you do not focus much on match-ups. Every day is a new day, I had to go for my shots because we were chasing, so you need to focus more on scenarios as compared to matchups,” said Pant.

“We were thinking to bat first also so I do not think Rohit’s decision to bat first was a bad one,” he added.

Mumbai Indians were cruising towards a mammoth total having scored 55 runs in the first six overs against Delhi but Amit Mishra wreaked havoc and dismantled the batting order removing Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, and Ishan Kishan.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 138/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 45, Steve Smith 33; Kieron Pollard 1/9) beat Mumbai Indians 137/9 (Rohit Sharma 44, Ishan Kishan 26; Amit Mishra 4/24) by 6 wickets.