IPL 2017, Match 42, DD v GL: CT Player of the Match - Rishabh Pant

A rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils side lay waste to the Gujarat Lions’ bowling attack to register the second highest successful chase in IPL history. That a 19-year-old lad named Rishabh Pant architected the victory made it more spectacular and momentous. With the win, the Daredevils continue to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. The thunderous 7 wicket win over the Gujarat Lions now sees them in firm command of their fortunes this season.

Chasing a mammoth 208 to win, the Daredevils were powered by a herculean partnership between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. The two players added 143 runs off just 63 balls to guide the run chase as they notched up their individual fifties in the match.

For the superlative knock of 97 off just 43 balls, Rishabh Pant gets the CT Player of the Match.

A force to reckon with

This is a boy who was once, who knows for what reason, thrown out of an academy. A few years down the road, Rishabh Pant finds himself rubbing shoulders with the one man who is an academy by himself, Rahul Dravid. The youngster announced himself in style to power India into the semi-finals of the U-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh, with a record-breaking fifty followed by a brilliant century. Incidentally, his century came on the same day when the Delhi Daredevils snapped this budding talent for 1.9 crores, from a base price of 10 lakhs. Today, Rishabh Pant showcased his big-hitting skills in front of a frenzied Kotla crowd, thus proving he was worth every penny.

Blistering innings

Each of Suresh Raina’s sixes was a dagger to the heart of the Delhi Daredevils fans, who saw the chances of their team feature in the playoffs wither away. The team however remained iron and resolute at the halfway mark, despite staring at a humongous 209-run ask to keep themselves afloat in the IPL. Rishabh Pant, in particular, was in no mood to play anything close to moderate innings.

Skipper Karun Nair was dismissed after showing some promise with a couple of quick boundaries. In came left-hander Rishabh Pant, who took the game by storm. The youngster opened his account with a superb strike to send the ball over cover for six. Pradeep Sangwan was next in line to face the little man’s wrath. Pant smashed 16 runs off the first three deliveries in Sangwan’s 3^rd over, ruining his figures once and for all.

Rishabh Pant’s onslaught peaked in the 11^th over, where he hammered the experienced James Faulkner for as many as 24 runs. With Sanju Samson at the other end, Pant shot the Daredevils from 25/1 straight to 167/1, with only 13 overs done and dusted. Samson played second fiddle to Pant, but the duo simply demolished a scratchy GL bowling line-up who looked rather helpless without the expertise of Andrew Tye.

Ever so close

Although Samson departed after a dazzling 61, Pant still had something left in him. He brought himself to 97 fabulously scored runs. Upon going for glory, he edged one to the keeper, much to the dismay of the Feroz Shah Kotla audience who were in anticipation to witness yet another hundred. Quite understandably, the youngster didn’t want to leave the crease, and couldn’t have walked slower off the field. A boy, at just 19 years of age, played a remarkable knock to bring down the required run rate under 6 in a 200-plus chase.

There’s no room for doubt that he deserved a hundred. Suresh Raina seemed to think so as well, as he sportingly came up to young Rishabh Pant and affectionately patted his helmet grill as though he were holding his cheeks. His 97 took him 43 balls, during which he smashed 6 fours and 9 sixes, each one cleaner than the last. The Gujarat Lions bench stood up to hail a memorable inning, and to appreciate a perspective beacon of light in the future of Indian cricket. Rishabh Pant’s exhibition of hitting will go down as one of the IPL’s most brutal innings. What it will also do is earn him the CT Player of the Match award.