Rishabh Pant is the best finisher among youngsters: Prithvi Shaw

Visakhapatnam, May 9

Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw heaped praises on teammate Rishab Pant, calling him the best finisher among youngsters after the 21-year-old helped Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in a nerve-wracking IPL Eliminator here.

Chasing a target of 163, Delhi Capitals, who had lost the way after a blazing start, were brought to the cusp of victory by Pant, who smashed 49 off 21 balls with five sixes even as West Indies’ Keemo Paul finished it off in the penultimate ball of the innings with a boundary off Khaleel Ahmed on Wednesday night.

“In these T20 games, there’s a lot of pressure. I was praying that we win. Pant did a brilliant job. I have said that he is the best finisher among the young players. He always opens up the game for us. He has been doing very well. Unfortunately, he could not finish it for us, but Keemo did well in the end,” Shaw said at the post-match press conference.

He said Amit Mishra’s single run was an important one.

The 19-year-old said it was important for him to get back into form after a few bad games.

Shaw top-scored with 56 off 38 balls on a “sticky wicket” to give Delhi a great start.

“First six overs are important because if you put runs on the board, it will take the pressure off the other batsmen. It was a bit difficult to pull the ball. Since their bowlers were bowling cutters on a sticky wicket, it was not pulling. I waited for the loose balls,” he said.

Shaw said while playing in the middle he concentrated on choosing the bowlers who he could hit.

“While you’re playing in the middle it is simple--just play your game and choose bowlers that we want to hit first and obviously (Mohammad) Nabi and Rashid (Khan) were the best bowlers in their side. It was an interesting game and I’m happy that we won.”

On how he plans to tackle Chennai Super Kings bowlers in the Qualifier 2, to be held here on Friday, Shaw said the Delhi players had faced the defending champions in previous IPLs and they understand the game.

“The team will have a plan after reaching Chennai. How to face which bowler like Harbhajan (Singh) bhai, Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) sir or (Imran) Tahir sir. We will have to plan. We will look to do what we’ve done earlier.”

Shaw said it is not about who played who but depended on how prepared the team is for the game.

“Personally, whichever ball is loose, I will smash that. Even with Harbhajan bhai and Tahir sir bowling, I will obviously smash it,” Shaw added. PTI