Netizens flooded Twitter with memes after Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant played a blinder against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The southpaw looked in imperious touch throughout his scintillating knock of 55 off 25 balls on Wednesday as he tormented the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers with his clean striking all over the ground.

 

During his stunning innings against the Gautam Gambhir-coached side, the southpaw even took Ventakesh Iyer to the cleaners, having hit him for 28 runs in an over. Remarkably, Rishabh Pant tore him apart, striking him for four boundaries and two sixes in that over.

 

These are the most runs a player has scored in an over in IPL 2024.

 

Though Rishabh Pant lit up the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, he failed to power the Delhi Capitals to victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders in that encounter as the left-hander's team lost the game by 106 runs. 

 

This came after Sunil Narine sparkled at the top for KKR, dealing in fours and sixes during his dazzling knock of 85 off 39 balls after Shreyas Iyer chose to bat first after winning the toss. 

 

Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, and Rinku Singh ably supported him, clobbering 54 off 27, 41 off 19, and 26 off 8 balls, respectively.

 

Their blazing knocks together took KKR to an improbable target of 272 in their allocated 20 overs. 

 

Chasing a mammoth target of 273, the Delhi Capitals never got going, and except for Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs (54 off 32 deliveries), no other batter from the franchise made his mark in the match.

 

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant also earned praise for his performance on the field, particularly for his recent innings against KKR. 

 

“Rishabh Pant is certainly looking good and a lot of people, including myself, can't believe his progress both physically, mentally and his performance on the field. There is one thing getting your own body and mind right, there is another thing delivering on the field. He is leading his team and he is actually leading quite well. He needs a little bit of help alongside it. He needs to find more out of the likes of Mitchell Marsh, more runs from David Warner and a lot more from Prithvi Shaw,” former England captain Eoin Morgan said on Jio Cinema.

 

Overall, Rishabh Pant has scored 152 runs in four games, including two half-centuries in the ongoing edition of the IPL. Impressively, he has scored his runs at a healthy average of 38 and a sensational strike-rate of 158. 

 

Australian legends Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting were impressed by Rishabh Pant's display in the IPL and hoped to see him representing India in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the US in June.

“Yeah, look it's great for Indian cricket, but it's also great for Rishabh Pant. I think the work that has gone into his rehab to get back to that level of play at any standard is an amazing achievement. He deserves a lot of credit for his hard work and it's great to see him on the field, captaining and playing well, batting and keeping,” Michael Clarke told Star Sports.

 

“I saw the Delhi physio run out to the field a couple of times to check on him, so hopefully he's pulled out okay, the positives are in the presentation he said he was fine and hopefully a day off or a couple of days off and he will be ready for the next game. He's a wonderful player and everybody is happy that he's back on the field and we want to see him play for Delhi, but we also want to see him come back and play for India as soon as possible,” he added.

 

“Pleased for him, what he did with the bat. A situation like that, where he had to go out and attack from the start is probably a scenario that he needed just to get some confidence back. He's actually had two good games with the bat now, which is great,” Ricky Ponting concluded.