Rishabh Pant, on Sunday (March 31), finally announced his arrival in IPL 2024 with a fine half-century against Chennai Super Kings in Vishakhapatnam.
After not playing cricket for more than a year as he recovered following the horrific car accident, the wicketkeeper-batsman made his highly-anticipated return to competitive cricket earlier this month in IPL 2024. While there were doubts over his participation in the early phase of the tournament, Rishabh Pant was ready to play from the very first game.
In the first game against Punjab Kings, he scored 18 runs before being dismissed for 28 in the second game against Rajasthan Royals. Unlike the first two games, Rishabh Pant made the most of his start against CSK and went on to score a half-century.
The wicketkeeper-batsman started cautiously and decided against playing the big shots from the start as wickets fell on regular intervals at the other hand. He was batting on 23 off 23 balls at the end of the 17th over before shifting gears.
In the 18th over, he hit Mustafizur Rahman for a six and a four before targeting Matheesha Pathirana. In the 19th over, the DC captain hit the Sri Lankan pacer for six and two fours to complete his fifty in style. And as Rishabh Pant completed his fifty, the entire DC dugout stood up to applaud him. Not only the players but coaches including the likes of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly gave him a standing ovation.
Watch Sourav Ganguly, DC dugout’s reaction to Rishabh Pant’s fifty:
— Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) March 31, 2024
— Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) March 31, 2024
Rishabh Pant was eventually out for 51. His knock came off 32 balls and was studded with four fours and three sixes. Meanwhile, DC posted 191 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs. Apart from Pant, David Warner scored a fifty as well. Warner and Prithvi Shaw gave Delhi a good start by adding 93 runs for the first wicket. DC lost a handful of wickets in quick succession but Pant made sure to guide them to a good total in the end.
