IPL 2018: Rishabh Pant Innings Right Up There With Brendon McCullum's 158, Says Sourav Ganguly

Rishabh Pant has been showered with praise of highest degree since his stunning century against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday (May 10). The 20-year old blew away arguably the best bowling lineup in the competition to notch up his maiden IPL hundred.

Delhi’s decision to bat first seemed to have backfired after they lost 4 wickets for just 98 runs. However, Pant played an unbeaten knock of 128 to guide Delhi to a competitive 187 for 5.

Shakib Al Hasan struck off consecutive balls in the fourth over to remove in-form opener Prithvi Shaw (9) and Englishman Jason Roy (11), leaving Delhi at 21 for two. Pant then eased off the pressure with a hat-trick of boundaries against Siddharth Kaul in the sixth over. At the end of the tenth over, Delhi had huffed and puffed to 52 for 3. They soon found themselves four down for just 98 runs on the board. At that stage, even the 150-run mark was looking like a distant dream.

However, Pant had some other plans.  With wickets falling from one end and him being involved in two-run outs, he was forced to drop anchors. As a result, he took as many as 36 balls to score his fifty. But once he had his eyes set, he did not waste much time in shifting gears. It took him only 20 more balls to reach from 50 to hundred. The highlight of the innings came in the very last over when he was up against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, arguably the best pacers in the league at the moment.

The final over saw Pant dispatching Bhuvneshwar for two fours and three consecutive sixes, including a one-handed one that sailed over long-on. Riding on Pant’s knock, Delhi amassed a staggering 138 runs in the last 10 overs to finish on 187 for 5.

Since that knock, the cricketing fraternity has been praising the wicketkeeper-batsman. But one can say that the best of the lot came from none other than legendary Indian batsman Sourav Ganguly. The former India skipper took to Twitter to hail Pant and compared his knock with that of Brendon McCullum’s when he had scored 158 not out in the very first game of the IPL.

“Saw McCullum in 2008..rishab pant innings right up there .. what a knock ,” he tweeted.

Saw McCullum in 2008..rishab pant innings right up there .. what a knock @bcci.@DelhiDaredevils @ParthJindal11

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) May 10, 2018

Meanwhile, Pant’s innings did not fire Delhi to a much-needed win as fifties from Shikhar Dhawan (92) and Kane Williamson (80) helped Sunrisers win the contest by 9 wickets.