Visakhapatnam
After showing considerable improvement in return to competitive cricket through the first two matches of IPL 2024, Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant upped his batting progression by offering a throwback to his vintage best through a 32-ball 51 laced with four fours and three sixes in Sunday’s match against Chennai Super Kings. Promoting himself to number three, Pant was at 23 off 23 balls, before accelerating by making 28 runs in his next eight balls for before holing out to long-off to make a fifty in the IPL for the first time after the 2021 season, which ended in a winning cause as DC beat CSK by 20 runs to get their first victory of the season. Shane Watson, the former Australia all-rounder who was DC’s assistant coach last year, felt one is not a true human being if Pant’s return to competitive cricket after 14 months of absence due to a car accident in December 2022 doesn’t inspire them in life. It’s inspirational, no question about it. To think that Rishabh had the ability to do this tonight, after the injuries that he sustained is unbelievable. You’re not a true human being if you’re not inspired by Rishabh Pant, the way he was able to come out and turn it on like that. It took him a little while to find his feet but once he let those shackles off, he played some ‘Rishabh Pant’ shots, and they were extraordinary.
