Good to see batsmen adjusting to Chepauk pitch: Pant

Chennai, April 21

Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant said it was good to see his batsmen quickly adjusting to the Chepauk track after playing the first three games on a more batting-friendly Wankhede pitch.

Delhi Capitals defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in their IPL on Tuesday, their first win over the five-time champions in five meetings.

“It (the travelling) is slightly challenging because of Covid. But I think, as a team we are not focusing on all this outside thing too much, because the BCCI has done really well to give us a good bubble and travelling things.

“So we are focusing more on cricket and it is good to see people adjusting to the pitch like this, especially when you are coming from the Wankhede,” Pant said at the post-match press conference.

Delhi promoted all-rounder Lalit Yadav and Pant said the team management is trying to groom him. “He (Lalit) is a good youngster and we are trying to groom him and we thought on this kind of wicket he can do wonders. Good to see some maturity from him,” the skipper noted.

Pant said he focuses on match scenarios than match-ups. Asked about his match-up against Jasprit Bumrah, Pant said, “As a player, you don’t focus on match-ups too much, because (it) doesn’t matter what you are doing or what you have done before, every day is a new day in cricket.

“And as you can see they bowled him (Bumrah) because they had to bowl him at that time, there was no other option and I had to go for my shots because we were chasing, so I think you need to focus on the scenarios much more rather than on match-ups.”   

Asked about the leadership aspect, Pant who replaced injured Shreyas Iyer as Delhi Capitals skipper said, “As a wicket-keeper I keep on reading the game and it has helped me a lot, but with the seniors around and Ricky Ponting in our management I think it is going great.”

He also defended rival skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to opt to bat saying he would have done the same had he won the toss. “We were also thinking to bat first, so I don’t think it was a bad decision,” Pant signed off. PTI