IPL 2018: Rishabh Pant You Beauty, Says Harbhajan Singh As He Lavishes Praise On The DD Star

Harbhajan Singh, on Thursday (May 10), jumped on the bandwagon, becoming one of the many who are lavishing praise on Delhi Daredevils star Rishabh Pant. The highly-rated wicketkeeper batsman became the second youngest to score an IPL hundred and youngest to score 1000 runs in the IPL during the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The 20-year-old took just 56 balls to bring up his hundred. His unbeaten innings of 128 off 63 balls was studded with 15 fours and 7 towering sixes with 26 runs coming off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s last over.

Delhi’s decision to bat first backfired initially.  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. However, once he had his eyes set, it was total carnage. 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.

Following the knock, veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to hail the knock. The Chennai Super Kings star was also quick to mention that wicketkeepers have been in fine form this season as he tweeted:

“Simply wow @RishabPant777 you beauty ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐???? @IPL @DelhiDaredevils vs @SunRisers all wicket keepers r on fire ? this ipl.”

Simply wow @RishabPant777 you beauty ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️???? @IPL @DelhiDaredevils vs @SunRisers all wicket keepers r on fire ? this ipl

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 10, 2018

However, Pant’s night didn’t end on a perfect note as Sunrisers won the game by 9 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan (92) and Kane Williamson (80) scored unbeaten fifties to guide their team to a comfortable win.