Rishabh Pant looked like a battered man on Saturday. He had every reason to feel so. His team had just been at the receiving of a 67-run thrashing by SunRisers Hyderabad, after conceding 266/7 in 20 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. DC were all out for 199 as the Pant-led side slumped to its fifth loss in eight games to be placed seventh in the 10-team league. DC have blown hot-and-cold this season so far. With the IPL reaching halfway stage, DC’s road to playoffs has become quite tough.
After the loss, Pant said the powerplay, where SRH scored a record 125 with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma going bonkers, was crucial.
“I think power play was the difference. We were just catching up throughout the match. That was the massive difference. Hopefully, we will come back with more thought process and clear mindset,” said Pant, whose ‘homecoming’ in Delhi was spoilt by Head and Sharma’s 131-run partnership.
The DC skipper also said he probably misjudged the dew factor at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and decided to bowl first after winning the toss.
“The only thought process behind that (deciding to bowl first) was we thought there would be some dew but it didn’t come. I thought if we could restrict them to 220-230, we would be in with a chance.”
Seeing Rishabh Pant dejected after the loss, Sunil Gavaskar, who was one of the commentators, said: “I never want your head down, there are lots of games. So, keep a smile always”.
Pant replied: “I will try my best, sir”.
SRH bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar got just one wicket but his restrictive spell in the high-scoring match — 33 runs in 4 overs — played a vital role in the easy win.
“Feeling good. Not among the wickets but the way I want to execute it is happening. Just a matter of time,” said the pace-bowling stalwart.
“When defending those many runs, you either go for plenty or you get wickets. We accepted that we’ll go for plenty of runs when defending those many runs, but the plan was to keep executing,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar praised his fellow pacer T Natarajan‘s bowling, who was twice on a hat-trick in a single over and ended up with superb figures of 4/19 in four overs “Amazing. We know how good he is at yorkers. He keeps working hard, silent guy, goes unnoticed a lot. We know how important he is for Sunrisers,” said Bhuvneshwar, adding that he is happy that SRH batting is finally clicking after several years.
“For so many years, this is the first time our batting is clicking so much. As a bowling unit, happy to take the back seat. They (batters) are ruining us… when we defend 180 or so, it’ll feel like less,” he said.
With PTI inputs
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