Following Delhi Capitals (DC)’s 106-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), former India batter Virender Sehwag slammed skipper Rishabh Pant for his batting approach, despite the wicketkeeper scoring 55 off just 25 balls. Chasing an improbable 273, DC were reeling at 33/4 before Pant and Tristan Stubbs restored some pride with a 93 run stand for the fifth wicket. Pant and Stubbs hit half-centuries but DC were never in the chase, having lost four early wickets.
Pant struck at 220 but he and Stubbs were left chasing shadows after KKR posted the second highest-total in the history of the IPL.
However, Sehwag slammed Pant for throwing away his wicket, adding that the DC skipper should’ve 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 games, and now, when you’re scoring runs, you are giving your wicket away. You should have stayed, reached a century, and remained unbeaten on 110 or 120. Because runs dry pretty fast. His batting was good, he has come back to form and scoring at a brilliant strike rate,” Sehwag said during a discussion on Cricbuzz.
Despite agreeing that DC were never in the game, Sehwag felt Pant should’ve 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 first over that they weren’t going to win). This was the time to do some batting practice. Instead of going to nets now, you could’ve played 20 extra deliveries here. Then you could’ve probably skipped practice overall and returned in the next match straightaway,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pant was fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during KKR’s innings.
“Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Capitals captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate 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 stated.
It added that Pant was fined Rs 24 lakhs since it was his team’s second offence of the season under the league’s Code of Conduct.
The statement added that apart from the skipper other players of the Delhi-based franchise including the impact player were also fined Rs 6 lakhs or 25 per cent of their respective match fees.
“As it was his team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Pant was fined INR 24 lakhs. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 6 lakhs or 25 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser,” it added.
(With ANI Inputs)
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