Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant smoked Chennai Super Kings pacer Shardul Thakur for an incredible one-handed six when the two clashed in Qualifier 1 on Sunday in Dubai.
On the second ball of the 16th over, Thakur bowled a dipping slower ball, of 114 kph speed. Rishabh Pant went attacking after Thakur, who had been thumped for a couple of sixes by Prithvi Shaw.
The left-hander judged the slower ball and swung at the dipping delivery. But his bottom hand came off as he connected with the ball. Despite that, there was enough power in the shot to take the ball well over the long-on fielder for an 86-meter six.
CSK bowlers pull back after Prithvi Shaw blitz
After being put in to bat first, Prithvi Shaw started in a streaky manner, top-edging Josh Hazlewood for a four and six. He then found his middle of the bat, stroking Deepak Chahar for four boundaries in an over.
Shikhar Dhawan, though, got out Hazlewood, nicking through to MS Dhoni. The Australian pacer would also dismiss Shreyas Iyer. At the other end, Shaw didn’t relent, however, and smoked Shardul Thakur for two sixes bringing up DC’s fifty in the fifth over.
Shaw would then bring up his own half-century off 27 balls, while taking Jadeja for a couple of fours. Axar Patel, promoted up in the order, got out for 10 runs off 11 balls to Moeen Ali.
The big blow to DC came from Jadeja, as Shaw (60 off 34) holed out to a brilliant catch from du Plessis at long-off. The CSK tightened the screws in the middle-overs.
With the run rate dropping, Shimron Hetmyer pulled Ali for a maximum over mid-wicket. Rishabh Pant joined in the act launching Thakur for a one-handed six over long-on.
Flexing their arms, both the left-handers would further take boundaries off Dwayne Bravo and Hazlewood. At the time of writing, DC are 153/4 at the 18-over mark.