[Watch] Rishabh Pant departs for 18 on his return to cricket against PBKS in IPL 2024
Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant's highly anticipated return to cricket ended in an anti-climactic fashion as he was outfoxed by a Harshal Patel slow bouncer against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on Saturday, March 23. The wicketkeeper-batter admirably recovered in time for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season after being involved in a horrific car accident in December 2022.
Pant came into bat at No.4 in the ninth over following David Warner's dismissal. The left-handed batter understandably looked rusty on his official return to the cricket field, scoring four runs off his first six deliveries. He was struggling with timing and connection, but seemed to be finding some groove after a couple of boundaries.
His first boundary came as a result of a missed opportunity by Harshal Patel near the boundary, failing to spot the ball in the sun. Right before his dismissal, Pant had scored a sublime cover drive and was all set to switch gears.
However, his attempt to play the ramp shot was foiled by a slow short ball. He got in decent shape to play the shot, but since there was no pace to work with, the ball looped up in the air and was caught by Jonny Bairstow at backward point.
Watch the dismissal right here:
Rishabh Pant departed for 18 runs off 13 deliveries, scoring at a rate of 138.46.
Rishabh Pant's dismissal leaves DC struggling ahead of the death overs
Shortly after Pant's wicket, PBKS struck once again. The Shikhar Dhawan-led side were successful with a review for the second time in the innings as Harpreet Brar dismissed Ricky Bhui. The uncapped Indian batter departed for three runs off seven deliveries.
Punjab continued to pick up wickets to have Delhi at 138/7 in 17.1 overs at the time of writing.
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), Ricky Bhui, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sumit Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, and Ishant Sharma.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, and Arshdeep Singh.