Friday turned out to be a memorable day for Delhi Capitals as Rishabh Pant and Co. defeated Lucknow Super Giants and registered their second win of IPL 2024. Opting to bat first, LSG posted 167/7 in 20 overs with Ayush Badoni playing an unbeaten knock of 55 runs. Later, DC chased down the target in 18.1 overs with six wickets in hand. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his figures of 3/20 in four overs.
Apart from Kuldeep Yadav, the strong partnership between skipper Pant (41) and debutant Jake Frazer-McGurk (55) also turned out to be really fruitful for DC. However, the bizarre dismissal of Pant caught everyone’s attention.
The incident took place in the third delivery of the 16th over, which was bowled by spinner Ravi Bishnoi. Pant tried to play a big hit and in the process, he stepped out of the crease. The ball missed the bat and went straight to wicketkeeper KL Rahul.
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As Pant missed the shot, the bat also slipped off his hands and hit Rahul behind the stumps. However, the LSG skipper did not lose his focus and timely stumped Pant.
Despite the losing the wicket of Pant, DC comfortably chased down the target as the duo of Tristan Stubbs (15*) and Shai Hope (11*) took DC across the line.
“Little relief, we wanted a win badly. I was talking to the boys saying we need to think like champions, we need to keep fighting hard. (On bowling) We have phases where we are not up to the mark, some individuals have to take responsibility for that. However, we stick together as a group. Some things you can control, some things we can’t,” said Pant after the victory.
“I think we are getting closer to the right XI, but we’ve had so many injuries in this group. However, you can’t keep complaining about that. (On Fraser-McGurk) Hopefully, we’ve found our new number 3, haven’t thought too much about it. Hope he can continue,” he added.
DC will now be squaring off against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on April 17. On the other hand, LSG will be taking on Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Sunday.
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