Among Pant’s eight boundaries, the six that he hit off Yash Thakur and the twin scoops – one reverse – off Marcus Stoinis would easily take the cake.
Rishabh Pant is never too far away from producing a jaw-dropping moment. If he has a good enough day then there can be multiple. And he did have a pretty good day in the office against the Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2024 match at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday. Coming in to bat No.4, Pant smashed a 41 off 24 balls with two sixes and four fours to help the Delhi Capitals return to winning ways this season.
Rishabh Pant plays the reverse scoop and ramp shots
Among Pant’s eight boundaries on Friday, the six that he hit off Yash Thakur over mid-wicket and twin scoops – one reverse – off Marcus Stoinis would easily take the cake.
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In the fourth ball of the 12th over of DC’s chase, Pant waited till the ball left Stoinis’s hands and then twirled the bat in his hand and positioned himself perfectly to play the reverse scoop. The ridiculous audacity and the meticulous execution with which Pant goes about his business while playing the reverse sweep against the medium pacers is a sight to behold. It brought about a smile on former India captain and current DC director of cricket, Sourav Ganguly.
Ganguly, many, was not Pant play a reverse sweep against a fast bowler. He has done that very famously to James Anderson and Jofra Archer. But there will always be adulation whenever he pulls off something similar.
Pant played another ramp a ball later that went for a four. He looked set for a well-deserved half-century but lost his wicket when he tried to charge down the track and hit Ravi Bishnoi for a six.
Here’s how Ganguly reacted:
Pant stitched an important 77-run stang for the third wicket with Jake Fraser-McGurk, who had celebrated his 22nd birthday on Thursday with a half-century to help Delhi overhaul Lucknow’s 167-7 with 11 balls to spare.
Delhi moved to ninth in the 10-team contest after registering only their second victory from six outings.
Lucknow, who came into the match with three wins out of four, are now placed fourth.
“Spent five-six games on the sidelines itching to get out there,” said Fraser-McGurk.
“I’m so happy to be here, different world in terms of cricket. Never seen anything like it, to be able to savour eight weeks, hopefully more, is amazing.”
Delhi lost opener David Warner early with the Australian dragging a ball from Yash Thakur on to his stumps soon after he was attended to by the physio for a blow he took on his knuckles.
Prithvi Shaw (32) was caught brilliantly by Nicholas Pooran at deep midwicket off Ravi Bishnoi but Pant and Fraser-McGurk steadied the innings with their stand.
Fraser-McGurk, who went unsold in the IPL auction but came in as a replacement for Lungi Ngidi, hit Krunal Pandya for three huge sixes in a row in one over to underline his power-hitting prowess.
The Australian’s 55-run knock, studded with five sixes and two fours, came to an end when he holed out to Arshad Khan, but by then Delhi needed just 28 runs off 32 balls.
Pant went past 3,000 IPL runs before being stumped off Bishnoi for 41 off 24 balls including two sixes and four boundaries.
