Star Indian wicketkeeper-batter, Rishabh Pant was in the stands when Delhi Capitals (DC) clashed against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Arun Jaitely Stadium in Delhi. In the viral video of the match, Pant was seen celebrating the wicket of GT’s skipper Hardik Pandya in the stadium, when Khaleel Ahmed dismissed him.
While DC lost their home against defending champions by six wickets, it was back-to-back losses for the David Warner-led side as they lost their first game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Rishabh Pant’s viral video celebrating Hardik Pandya’s wicket-
The result didn't go Rishabh's way but he did have his moments – good to see you smiling, champ ?#DCvGT #TATAIPL #IPL2023 #IPLonJioCinema | @RishabhPant17 pic.twitter.com/fsUEiFEGr7
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 4, 2023
While, DC regular skipper, Pant was making his first public appearance since the horrific car crash last December. Whereas the viral video was caught on camera during the sixth over of GT’s innings, while they were chasing 163 runs, on the score of 54/2 at the last ball of the sixth over, Hardik misjudged the line of Khaleel’s delivery and edged behind to wicketkeeper Abishek Porel.
Earlier, Bengal’s wicketkeeper-batter Porel replaced Rishabh in the Delhi-based squad, while DC announced Australian batter, Warner as the skipper for the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). As the 25-year-old is out of the season due to the serious injuries he sustained during a road accident in December last year.
Before the start of the season, DC’s head coach, Ricky Ponting recalls the Indian star player, by saying that in an ideal world, he would have wanted Pant to be in the dugout, but for him, they can have his shirt number and jersey for this season.
A ??-???? union that we have all been waiting for ?#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2023 #DCvGT pic.twitter.com/YhB8xe6FIx
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 4, 2023
Coming into the match, batting first Delhi Capitals had a poor start losing out 4 wickets for just 67 runs, as their top batters failed miserably with Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, and Rilee Rossouw being dismissed without scoring many runs putting the team in the spot of bother. Abishek Porel and Axar Patel put up a cameo to take Delhi Capitals to a decent total of 162 runs.
With 163 runs, to chase Gujarat Titans lost their openers for just 36 runs, with the Tamil Nadu duo Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar stitching a partnership of 53 runs followed by a brilliant cameo by David Miller, helping the team to chase down the total with 11 balls to spare.
While in IPL 2023, Delhi Capitals will take on Rajasthan Royals in their third match on their first-afternoon game on April 8 in Barsapara, Guwahati.