NEWS
Follow UsDelhi Capitals (DC) put in a professional performance in their convincing six-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday (April 20). The bowlers did a terrific job and restricted the defending champions to 137 and then chased it down with five balls to spare. While DC captain praised the bowlers for the win, he also acknowledged that all-rounder Lalit Yadav is someone they are looking to groom, given his potential.
Lalit was promoted to No. 4 in against MI and he delivered with a composed unbeaten 25-ball 22 to go with his 1 for 17 from four overs with the ball. "I think Lalit is a great Indian player and we are looking to groom him. Can do wonders on pitches like these," Pant said after the match.
Speaking of the bowlers, Amit Mishra delivered once again with his spell of 4 for 24. The DC captain was all praise for the veteran leg-spinner. "When we started we were under a bit of pressure, but Mishi bhai got us back into the game. It was a low-scoring match, but a difficult pitch to bat on. We just wanted to keep it simple and we wanted to restrict them to at least 140-150," Pant said.
Rohit Sharma, on the other, hand felt that his middle-order batsmen should have batted much better and cashed in on the good start.
"After the start we got we should have batted better in the middle overs. It is happening time and again. We aren't able to capitalize on our starts and we need to understand as a batting unit," said Rohit, who made a quick-fire 44.
"But you have to give credit to the Delhi bowlers, they kept it tight and kept taking wickets," added Rohit, who on his injury said it was only a niggle and it should be fine.
Asked about his match-up against Jasprit Bumrah, Pant said, "As a player, you don't focus on match-ups too much, because (it) doesn't matter what you are doing or what you have done before, every day is a new day in cricket. And as you can see they bowled him (Bumrah) because they have to bowl him at that time, there was no other option and I had to go for my shots because we were chasing, so I think you need to focus on the scenarios much more rather than match-ups."
Asked about the leadership aspect, Pant who replaced injured Shreyas Iyer as Delhi Capitals skipper said, "As a wicketkeeper, I keep on reading the game and it has helped me a lot, but with the seniors around and Ricky Ponting in our management, I think it is going great.
He also defended rival skipper Rohit Sharma's decision to opt to bat saying he would have done the same had he won the toss. "We were also thinking to bat first, so I don't think that it was a bad decision,"
With this win, DC go to second in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 table with six points, while MI are in fourth place having secured four points from as many matches.
(With inputs from PTI)
Image Courtesy: BCCI
