After Delhi Capitals (DC)’s 106-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), former India batsman Virender Sehwag slammed skipper Rishabh Pant for his batting approach despite the wicketkeeper scoring 55 off just 25 balls. Chasing an unlikely 273, DC were tottering at 33/4 before Pant and Tristan Stubbs restored some pride with a 93-run stand for the fifth wicket. Pant and Stubbs reached half-centuries but DC were never in the chase, having lost four early wickets.
Pant struck on 220 but he and Stubbs continued to chase shadows after KKR posted the second-highest total in IPL history.
Sehwag, however, slammed Pant for throwing away his wicket, adding that the DC skipper should have batted till the end and scored a century.
“Yes, it (Pant’s innings) was good. But you didn’t score much in the first two matches, and now, when you score runs, you give away your wicket. You should have stayed on, reached a century, and remained unbeaten on 110 or 120. Because the runs are drying up quite quickly. His batting was good, he has come back into form and scored at a brilliant strike rate,” Sehwag said while discussing Itch.
Despite agreeing that DC was never in the game, Sehwag felt Pant should have played a few more deliveries.
“Aaj vaise bhi pehle over se pata tha ki haarne waale hain, jeetenge toh nahi (Today we knew from the very beginning that they would not win). This was the time to do some batting practice. Instead of going To now score, you could have played 20 extra deliveries here. Then you probably could have skipped general training and come straight back in the next match,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pant was fined for maintaining a slow over rate during KKR’s innings.
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has been fined after his team maintained a slow excess during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on April 3,” the IPL said.
It added that Pant was fined Rs 24 lakhs as it was his team’s second violation of the season under the league’s code of conduct.
The statement added that besides the skipper, other players of the Delhi-based franchise, including the impact player, were also fined Rs 6 lakhs or 25 percent of their respective match fees.
“As it was his team’s second violation of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct regarding minimum overrate violations, Pant was fined INR 24 lakhs. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined INR 6 lakhs or 25 percent of their respective match fees, whichever is lower,” it added.
(With ANI inputs)
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