Rishabh Pant is set to achieve a rare milestone for Delhi Capitals (DC), something that has never been attained by any Delhi Capitals player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The southpaw is all set to play his 100th IPL game for Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday (March 28) and no other player has played 100 or more IPL games for the franchise in the cash-rich league tournament.
Notably, Pant is jointly tied with veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra at 99 (matches) with the most caps for DC in the IPL and the match against Rajasthan Royals, the ninth of the ongoing season, will see the DC skipper leave Mishra behind.
While it's going to be a momentous occasion for Rishabh, he would love to help the team register its first win of the 17th season. Delhi lost their season opener against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh on March 23 by four wickets despite scoring 174 on the board.
Capitals can consider themselves a tad unlucky as their veteran pacer Ishant Sharma twisted his ankle during the game and could only bowl two overs in the game. He was looking brilliant with the ball in hand and had already dismissed the PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan before the unfortunate incident forced him to leave the field of play.
Rishabh felt that Ishant's injury was a major reason that cost DC the game and he mentioned the same during the post-match presentation.
"I think Ishant's injury was clearly evident in the field, we were already one bowler short because of our batting, Abishek Porel did well to give us those extra runs, but we were always one bowler short. The boys did well to drag us back into the match at various stages. (On his comeback) Was pretty nervous, there was a bit of tension, but I started to enjoy myself. No excuses, having a bowler short was never good, but credit to PKBS for the way they played. He's pretty new (on Porel), 3rd the 4th game (for him), the way he batted was very special, looking forward to more from him as the season moves forward," said Pant.
