"Thalaiva" – Rishabh Pant shares a picture imitating Rajinikanth’s iconic ‘Kabali’ pose
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant shared a picture on Instagram on Tuesday, August 20, mimicking the iconic ‘Kabali’ pose of famed Indian actor Rajinikanth. The explosive batter recently played the opening game of the inaugural season of the Delhi Premier League on Saturday, August 17.
Captain Pant didn’t have the best outing, scoring 35 off 32 balls as Purani Dilli-6 finished with 197-3 in their allotted 20 overs. In response, the South Delhi Superstarz, led by captain Ayush Badoni (57 off 29 balls), won the game by three wickets.
He missed Purani Dilli-6's second game of the season on Tuesday afternoon. He, however, took to Instagram to share a picture recreating Rajinikanth’s iconic ‘Kabali’ pose, captioning it:
“Thalaiva.”
Pant has made an incredible comeback after a life-threatening car accident in December 2022. He was a part of India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning team which defeated South Africa in the final to win their second title in June.
His last international appearance came against Sri Lanka in the final game of the three-match ODI series earlier this month. The left-handed batter scored only six off nine balls as India lost the series 2-0 with one match ending in a tie.
Rishabh Pant to make his red-ball comeback in 2024 Duleep Trophy
The Delhi cricketer is set to make his comeback in red-ball cricket as the Indian 2024-25 domestic season kicks off on September 5 with the Duleep Trophy. Pant will be playing for Team B, captained by Abhimanyu Easwaran, and featuring the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Here’s the 15-member Team B squad for the Duleep Trophy:
Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk).
Rishabh Pant has represented India in 33 Tests, scoring 2,271 runs, including five centuries.