Mantra was to play fearlessly and punish the bad balls, says Rishabh Pant 

DELHI DAREDEVILS batsman Rishabh Pant produced a scintillating performance with the bat as he smashed a blistering 97 off 43 balls against Gujarat Lions at Feroz Shah Kotla. 

Chasing a mammoth 208, Pant hammered 6 fours and 9 sixes and combined a brilliant partnership with Sanju Samson, who scored 61 off 31 balls. The duo helped DD win the game and remain in contention for the playoffs. 

Pant’s knock drew a lot of praise from the cricketing heavyweights. Iconic Sachin Tendulkar took to his twitter account to term it as one of the best IPL knocks he has ever seen. Meanwhile, Pant divulged that his plan was to punish the bad deliveries and stay focussed on chasing the total.

“If I see the ball and it is there to be hit, I’ll hit it. I wasn’t thinking that I would get out. If the ball is bad you have to punish it, that’s what I’m doing. I was not thinking about the three runs. I was thinking about chasing down the total as quickly as I can.” 

Following his dismissal, GL skipper Suresh Raina walked up to give a pat and to show his support to 19-year-old. Speaking about the changes made in the batting order, Pant conceded that batting up the order has helped his performance.

“You can see earlier I was coming in to bat later and had less time. I was coming in after 15 overs. Now I have full time to settle down and then play my shots.” 

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