'You cannot replace a player like him' - Parthiv Patel feels Delhi Capitals missed Rishabh Pant in season opener

Lucknow Super Giants got their IPL 2023 campaign off to a rollicking start as they defeated Delhi Capitals by 50 runs in their opening encounter on Saturday, April 1 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

After being put into bat first, Lucknow posted a massive total of 193/6 in the first innings on the back of a scintillating knock by Kyle Mayers (73 off 38 balls).

In reply, Delhi were blown away by a fiery spell from Mark Wood who picked up 5/14 in four overs to bring Delhi’s batting down to their knees. As a result, Delhi Capitals were restricted to 143/9 in their allotted 20 overs and Lucknow got their campaign off to a winning start.

Following Delhi’s loss, former India cricketer Parthiv Patel felt that they missed their regular captain Rishabh Pant badly and need to find someone who can inspire them to come out of such a massive loss.

“Delhi must have missed Rishabh Pant – the batter, the wicketkeeper and the captain. You cannot replace a player like him. But from Delhi’s perspective, they will need to figure out who will come and inspire them after this huge defeat. This will put a huge dent on their net run rate as well,” said Parthiv on JioCinema.

The former wicketkeeper-batter further showered praise on Mark Wood for picking the first fifer of the season. He especially credited him for exposing Prithvi Shaw’s weakness and dismantling his stumps.

 The English seamer brought Lucknow back in the game after openers Shaw and David Warner added 41 runs for the first wicket. He destroyed the timbers of Shaw and Mitchell Marsh in his first over and then dismissed Sarfaraz Khan in his second over. 

“We must applaud Mark Wood's plans and the way he dismissed Prithvi Shaw, as we have seen him get out like this in previous IPLs and international matches as well where there is always a gap between his bat and pad, and Wood bowled at him in that length continuously. You are given 24 bowls in total and taking five wickets in a T20 match is equivalent to scoring 100 runs,” added Parthiv.

Kyle Mayers hitting was admirable: Suresh Raina

Former India and Chennai Super Kings batter Suresh Raina was highly impressed with Kyle Mayers because of his sensational knock on his IPL debut. He further credited Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni for their cameos which helped Lucknow to go beyond 190.

“The way he (Kyle Mayers) was hitting the ball, powerful shots off Axar Patel and Kuldeep (Yadav), who are both very successful bowlers, was truly admirable. It was a good fifty to score. In spite of that, the way Badoni and Nicholas Pooran finished the game, with these small cameos of 25–30 runs helped them get from 155 runs to near 190 runs (193),” said Raina on JioCinema.