During the 42nd match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Delhi Daredevils (DD) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Delhi, Delhi Daredevils’ Rishabh Pant scored his maiden IPL century, an innings which will go down as one of the top innings of the tournament ever.
After Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat, their prospects had gone for a hit after openers Prithvi Shaw (9) and Jason Roy (11) were dismissed on consecutive deliveries. Pant came in to bat at No. 4 in the fifth over. It was a 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Pant and Harshal Patel (24) which had set up things for Delhi Daredevils.
At the halfway mark, the Daredevils had scored 52-3, out of which Pant had contributed 24* (23). The numeral shows that the southpaw took his time before going bonkers against the best bowling attack in the tournament. In the 11th over, Pant hit a six and a four against Siddarth Kaul to lay down the platform.
In which was just the beginning, Pant scored a triad of boundaries against Rashid Khan and followed it up with another six and a four against Sandeep Sharma. On the first delivery of the 15th over, with a towering six over deep mid-wicket off Shakib Al Hasan, Pant completed his half-century off 36 balls.
The next five overs were a treat to watch as Pant entertained one and all with his choice of shots and his knack of executing them to perfection. In the 18th over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was called in to bowl his third over of the innings. Pant thwacked him for 18 runs in an over, something which you don’t see very often against Bhuvneshwar.
On the second delivery of the penultimate over, with a four off a Kaul full-toss, Pant reached to his maiden IPL century. However, it was not just about the milestone. He followed his assault on Bhuvneshwar by hitting another 26 runs in his last over. In an innings, where he played a fulcrum role in Delhi’s innings, Pant ended up scoring 128* (63) with the help of 15 fours and seven sixes.
Watch the highlights of his innings:
https://twitter.com/videos_shots/status/994622748625289216
Watch how Twitterati reacted on Pant’s monumental innings:
Wow, that's how good this kid Rishabh Pant is n what he can do when he gets it right. Phenomenal. Was #IshanKishan yesterday n #RishabhPant Happy days…….
— Deep Dasgupta (@DeepDasgupta7) May 10, 2018
Wow! Not just a century, this could be the innings of the IPL so far. #RishabhPant
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 10, 2018
Innings of this year's #IPL. #RishabhPant. #Special.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 10, 2018
Bhuvi: 2 Overs 7 Runs
**Rishabh Pant Happened**
Bhuvi: 4 Overs 51 RunsA Rare Scene To Watch Someone Hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar So Well. Even International Players Struggle To Do So. Says A Lot About Talent Of Pant. ๐๐ #DDvSRH #DDvsSRH #RIshabhPant
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) May 10, 2018
Take a bow Rishabh Pant ๐
What a promising young talent India have produced .. only wicketkeeper in india who can replace MS Dhoni in future #RishabhPant#DDvSRH #IPL2018— Rehan Zia ๐ต๐ฐ (@RehanZia5) May 10, 2018
Sensational from @RishabPant777 This is a statement innings from the young man. I am ready for the national team, canโt be kept out for long. What shotmaking!! #RishabhPant #IPL2018 #DDvsSRH
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 10, 2018
Take a Bow !! Rishabh Awesome Pant !!!. #DDvSRH #RishabhPant @RishabPant777
Pant-astic Ton, The first of many more to come !!!— Prabhu (@Cricprabhu) May 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/Sajjanlaunda/status/994610040739844096
https://twitter.com/ArpitRohitVira/status/994610643138363393
The best inning of the #IPL2018 absolute entertainment, #RishabhPant you beauty ..๐๐๐ผ๐๐ผ#DDvSRH
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) May 10, 2018
Long overdue…๐ #RishabhPant
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) May 10, 2018
Rishabh Pant reverse sweeps Rashid Khan for a boundary is the reason why he is the best youngster among the lot.#DDvSRH #RishabhPant #IPL2018
— Shashank Singh (@RccShashank) May 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/PrasunK5/status/994610598590795776
Bless you, kid. Go far. Donโt stop. #RishabhPant #DDvSRH
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 10, 2018
Take a bow, #rishabhPant . What an innings! It's an absolute pleasure to see someone hit it so cleanly, this is not a fluke but sheer talent, deserves a place in national team.#IPL2018
— Captain Sagar ๐ต (@Captainsagar) May 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/Anshuman86m/status/994615656212398080
Loved the attitude of Pant. Almost thought he might want to tread cautiously against Bhuvi in the 18th – but then he never cared about it! He went for it. WOW. What an innings. #RishabhPant #DD #IPL2018
— RK (@RK_sports) May 10, 2018
If u can hit 26 of bhuvi den u r something different.A Fab innings frm #RishabhPant!.U rock man!! 128* from 63 showing his class #DDvSRH
— Niket Shah (@NiketShah2) May 10, 2018
