Rishabh Pant struggled to get off the mark and, in the end, went for a rash shot to throw his wicket away for a duck.
Rishabh Pant failed to make his Lucknow Super Giants debut memorable with the bat and registered a six-ball duck against his former team Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam. The wicketkeeper batter, who joined LSG for a record-breaking INR 27 crore, failed to open his account and was dismissed by his former ally Kuldeep Yadav.
Rishabh Pant registered a six-ball duck on his LSG debut.(AFP)
Pant came out to bat at number 4 after the dismissal of Mitchell Marsh but failed to get going on a pitch, which was a batting paradise. The left-handed batter struggled to get off the mark and, in the end, went for a rash shot to throw his wicket away.
It was the 14th over of the innings, and three dot balls put pressure on the left-handed batters. The pressure piled on him as he couldn’t control himself on the fourth ball and hit it over long-off but failed to clear the boundary and was caught by Faf du Plessis.
The 27-year-old was disappointed with himself and took a long walk back towards the pavilion with his head down.
Pant, who made his IPL debut in 2016, was donning a jersey other than DC’s for the first time in the cash-rich league. During his time at DC, Pant amassed 3284 runs in 8 seasons, but his start at LSG didn’t go as planned.
The momentum was in LSG’s favour when he joined Nicholas Pooran in the middle, but his wicket pulled DC back in the game. However, he did witness Pooran smashing four sixes in an over of Tristan Stubbs from the other end.
He faced the wrath of trolls for his underwhelming start to the LSG journey with the bat.
“I have played for DC all my life”: Rishabh Pant
Earlier at the toss, LSG captain Pant opened up on facing his former team and called it an emotional game.
“I have played for DC all my life, so a lot of emotions there. Preparations have been well, everyone is in the right shape and in the right frame of mind,” Pant said at the toss.
Meanwhile, DC captain Axar Patel won the toss and opted to field first at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Vizag.
KL Rahul was unavailable for the opening game of his new franchise, Delhi Capitals, as he was blessed with a baby girl and flew to Mumbai to be with her wife Athiya Shetty.
