Internet Desk: Rishabh Pant’s fiery knock went in vain as Shane Watson led Royal Challengers beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs in an Indian Premier League match on Saturday.
Delhi skipper Zaheer Khan lauded Pant’s effort, who played in the match despite the passing away of his father and scored a 36-ball 57, Zaheer said, “He (Pant) played well, and just needed support at the other end. Pant showed a lot of courage, he has undergone personal trauma, we are all with him.”
Zaheer attributed his side’s 15-run loss to lack of partnership by his batsmen. Chasing 158 for a win, Delhi ended at 142 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs.
“Eight out of ten times we would have got this total. We could not get the partnerships going. The wicket was very good for batting. We were going at a good rate but we just did not have partnerships,” Zaheer said after the match.
Zaheer said the wicket was a bit on the drier side and that was one of the reasons 158 was gettable.
“We have a good balance of fast bowlers and spinners. We also have Jayant sitting on the sidelines. It is just the beginning of the tournament.”
RCB captain Shane Watson said, “It was a great win. To get to that score Kedar did really well. We stepped it up from the first game with the ball and in the field. Kedar got the momentum going.”
Asked about choosing Pawan Negi to bowl the final over, which resulted to Pant’s dismissal, Watson said, “My gut feeling went with Negi. Pant had not seen him all night.
“Negi did it against his old team. Chahal has done it for RCB for a long time, he has done it for India as well.”
Man of the Match Jadhav said, “At the age of 15, I was improvising. Once I got power, I started hitting big shots. I keep all the options open and just react to the ball.
“I look short but I work hard on my fitness in the gym. When two of your top players are not playing, you need to take responsibility” he said referring to the absence of captain Virat Kohli and South African AB de Villiers.
With inputs from PTI.