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Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant had a forgettable day at the helm as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) piled one of the highest scores in Indian Premier League (IPL) history.
Pant's nightmare outing as captain began right from the toss as his side was put to bowl first by Shreyas Iyer. The wicketkeeper was not able to assert any control over the proceedings as KKR took on the DC bowlers in the powerplay to score 88 runs.
Pant had an opportunity to bring DC back into the contest as Sunil Narine edged a delivery. However, he was a little too late to opt for a review, and the opening batter made the most of the second chance by scoring a merciless 85 runs off 39 deliveries.
The DC skipper failed to hear yet another outside edge, this time off Shreyas Iyer's bat. He decided not to go upstairs even after bowler Rasikh Salam persuaded the wicketkeeper.
Rishabh Pant cut a rather helpless figure as KKR continued to dominate the proceedings over the course of the entire innings. To make matters worse, Pant's poor management of the bowlers was on show as DC were found to be three overs behind the over rate. They had to bring one fielder in for the last two overs of the innings, of which KKR managed to score 23 runs.
Twitter were highly critical of Rishabh Pant's leadership and voiced their concerns on Twitter. Here are some of the reactions.
Rishabh Pant has won 18 matches as DC captain
Pant was appointed as interim skipper in the 2021 edition following Shreyas Iyer's injury, and became full-time skipper from the 2022 season. After leading DC to fifth place finish in his first season as full-time captain, he missed the 2023 edition due to injury.
His return to captaincy has not been smooth so far, with only one win across three matches so far, and a third one lurking around.
Overall, Rishabh Pant has had 18 wins as captain out of 33 matches in the IPL, giving him a win percentage of 54.5 so far.
Pant will hope to have a good outing as a batter in the mammoth run chase. Even if the win is out of the skipper's hands, considering it needs a record run chase, the net run-rate factor will also play a huge role in the second innings.
