Team India wicketkeeper and Purani Dilli captain Rishabh Pant tried his hands at bowling during the opening match of Delhi Premier League against South Delhi Superstarz at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, August 17.
Purani Dilli 6 suffered a three-wicket defeat at the hands of South Delhi Superstarz in the opening match of the Delhi Premier League T20.
After posting a total of 197/3 in 20 overs, Purani Dilli failed to defend the total as SD Superstarz chased down 198-run target with five balls to spare in the final over. Skipper Aayush Badoni (57) and Priyansh Arya (57) were the star performers for SDS. Sarthak Ray too contributed significantly with an innings of 41 off 26 balls.
When Purani Dilli had only 1 run off six balls to defend their total, skipper Rishabh Pant himself brought into the attack in the final over and gave away one run that was required for SD Superstarz required to win the match.
It was not the first time that Rishabh Pant bowled in his career. Pant had bowling two overs in a first-class cricket match for Delhi, where he managed to pick two wickets, Meanwhile, the opening match between Purani Dilli and South Superstarz was the first outing for Rishabh Pant since India's ODI series against Sri Lanka.
However, Rishbh Pant didn't have the best outing as he was dismissed for 35 off 32 balls. He batted at a strike rate of 109.37, the lowest among the Purani Dilli's batters. Pant was struggling to play against spin and he perished against Kunwar Bidhuri.
Rishabh Pant to make red-ball comeback in Duleep Trophy
Rishabh Pant is set to return to red-ball cricket after a gap of two years in Duleep Trophy. His last appearance in the red-ball match was in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh in December. Thereafter, Pant met with a car accident on Delhi-Dehradun highway and sustained serious injuries, which sidelined him for 15 months.
Pant has been included Team B squad, which includes Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj. The first round of the Duleep Trophy will take place on September 5, just two weeks before the first Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19.
The BCCI selectors led Ajit Agarkar will have their eyes on the players during the first round of the tournament in order to pick the squad for the home Test series against Bangladesh.
