Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant will play his 100th Indian Premier League (IPL) match for the franchise on Thursday when he takes the field against Rajasthan Royals (RR), becoming the first player to do so for his team. The attacking left-handed batsman has been loyal to the franchise since his IPL debut in 2016. In the 99 matches played for DC so far, Pant has scored 2,856 runs at an average of 34.40 and a strike rate of 147.90 , with a century and 15 fifties in 98 innings.
His best score is 128*. Pant is the highest run-getter for Delhi since its inception in 2008, with stars like David Warner (2,433 runs in 84 matches) and Virender Sehwag (2,382 runs in 87 matches) taking the other two spots in the top three.
After showing some promise as a young starter in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, with 198 runs in 10 innings and 366 runs in 14 matches respectively, Pant took the cricket world by storm with a breakthrough in the 2018 season. In that season, Pant scored 684 runs in 14 matches with an average of 52.62 and a huge strike rate of 173.60. He scored a century and five fifties, with a best score of 128*.
The left-hander’s free-flowing 128* in 63 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), with 15 fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of over 203, is a career highlight. When the left-hander entered with his team at 43/3, he single-handedly took them to a match-winning 187/5
This knock was filled with daring, never-before-seen sweeps, scoops and one-handed sixes that became Pant’s signature shots for years to come. During this knock, he notably decimated Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, hitting him for 43 runs in 11 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes. He also did not spare T20 superstar spinner Rashid Khan, scoring 27 runs from his 13 balls, with a boundary of six and four.
Pant was appointed as the franchise captain in 2021. As captain he has won 16 matches, lost 14 matches and one ended in a draw. He has a winning percentage of 51.61. He was part of the 2020 DC team that went to the final but lost to Mumbai Indians (MI) by five wickets.
Rishabh’s made his comeback to competitive cricket after December 2022 after a life-threatening road accident against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and in his comeback inning, he scored 18 in 13 balls, with two fours. The young wicketkeeper-batsman will try much better this time and entertain the crowd in Jaipur.
Rajasthan Royals squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (w/c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Nandre Burger, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Shubham Dubey, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Prasidh Krishna, Donovan Ferreira, Abid Mushtaq, Kunal Singh Rathore
Delhi Capitals squad: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Ricky Bhui, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Jake Fraser -McGurk, Vicky Ostwal, Praveen Dubey, Jhye Richardson, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Shaw, Lalit Yadav, Rasikh Dar Salam, Kumar Kushagra, Yash Dhull, Swastik Chikara.
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