Pant has a big say in Delhi's win

It is turning out to be quite a season for Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper-batsman hit another blazing knock during Delhi Daredevils' four-run victory (via DLS method) over Rajasthan Royals in a rain-curtailed thriller at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Wednesday.

Heavy showers had stopped the match twice. The first spell of rain reduced the match to 18 overs. Put in, Daredevils heaped 196/6 in 17.1 overs before the skies opened up again. On resumption, Rajasthan Royals were handed a revised total of 151 to be accomplished in 12 overs.

D' Arcy Short (44) and Jos Buttler (67) gave Royals the blistering start, but once the two were removed within nine overs, Daredevils seized control. Trent Boult (2/26) bowled brilliantly at death to ensure Daredevils stayed alive in the league. The win also leapfrogged them from bottom to the sixth place in the points table

Pant scored 69 off 29 (7x4, 5x6) to become the new purple cap owner. The 20-year-old, who honed his skills on the Delhi circuit, has scored 375 runs in nine matches at an average of 41.66 at a strike rate of 180.28. Among those retained by Daredevils, Pant has overshadowed captain Shreyas Iyer with his attacking innings.

He, however, doesn't want to look too far ahead. “I’m not thinking anything of that (getting into the India team) right now. I’m just trying to do well for the team,” said Pant

He said the team has worked on the mistakes they had committed in the past. “Actually we were batting brilliantly in all the matches but small mistakes came in our way. Now we are making sure that doesn’t happen and we win all our matches,” he said.

Pant was also generous of India under-19 World Cup winning captain Prithvi Shaw, who has given an impressive account of himself while opening the batting. On Wednesday, he was instrumental in giving Daredevils a flying start with 25-ball 47 runs.

“He was brilliant from day one. Just that he was not getting a chance. He was practicing very well though. And when he got a chance he capitalised on it,” said Pant.

Short admitted rain made chasing tough for Royals. "After the first rain, we thought it was still an even game but the second lot kind of makes it a bit difficult, when you only have 12 overs to chase 150 with Duckworth-Lewis (Stern). I think the second rain definitely hindered us a little bit.”

“It’s a tough loss for us. We would have liked to win today but chasing 150 off 12 overs is quite a tough task as well. We did quite well to get to where we did. I know we have to win each game, each game is kind of an elimination game from now."