IPL 2021: Rishabh Pant Calls MS Dhoni Pant His ‘Go To Man’ After Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals Match; CSK Captain Unhappy With Bowlers

Pant led his team Delhi to a resounding seven-wicket win over his role model MS Dhoni's CSK but the youngster paid tribute to the former India captain.

Delhi Capitals’ newly-appointed captain Rishabh Pant said walking out with Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the toss in their IPL opener at the Wankhede Stadium was a special moment for him as the Chennai Super Kings talisman has been his ‘go-to man’. Chasing 189 for victory, Delhi romped to a seven-wicket victory with eight balls to spare after Shikhar Dhawan – 85 runs – and Prithvi Shaw – 72 runs – struck blistering half-centuries.

“Actually, it was special for me captaining in IPL and walking out for toss with MS. I have learnt from him and he’s my go-to man,” Pant said at the post-match presentation ceremony in Mumbai on Saturday night.

The likes of Chris Woakes and Avesh Khan ensured DC did not miss their first-choice pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Andre Nortje who are serving their quarantine. “It was good, once you win the match everything is good. In the middle phase, I was under pressure, but good job from Avesh and the bowlers.

“We were thinking as to what we will do without Nortje and Rabada and I thought we had to do with the options we have.

“We thought whatever we have we have to work around this and put the best playing XI. We just wanted to finish the match before one over, we didn’t think about the run-rate.”

Pant also lauded the opening duo of Dhawan and Shaw. “Prithvi and Shikhar did a good job for us in the powerplay. They kept it simple and looked for boundaries.”

CSK captain Dhoni said his bowlers will have to pull up their socks after a “poor” outing. “We could have bowled slightly better, and if batters are hitting you over the fields, that’s fair enough.

“The execution of the bowlers was poor and there were boundary balls that they bowled, but the bowlers will have learned and they will apply that in the future games,” Dhoni said.

Pant won the toss and opted to bowl in the game and Dhoni said the dew factor played on their minds. “A lot depended on dew, and that factor played on our mind from the start and that’s why we wanted to get as many runs as possible.

“The batters did a good job to reach 188, because it was tricky until dew settled in 50 minutes later. The opposition have half an hour advantage in a 7:30 start, when the pitch is really tricky and the ball stops a bit, so we need to get 15-20 runs extra to be sage.

“If we get dew consistently, then 200 will be a must on a pitch like this. The bowlers bowled a great line when it was stopping and seaming a bit, and the openers got really good balls in which they got out and that can happen in a game like this,” Dhoni said.

Earlier, Suresh Raina announced his IPL comeback with a blazing 36-ball 54 and powered his team to a solid 188 for seven. Sam Curran smashed 34 off only 15 balls to prop up the CSK innings towards the end. Curran hit four fours and two sixes.