IPL 2021: Chris Woakes, Shimron Hetmyer and others penalised with 50 push-ups after losing to Rishabh Pant’s team in fielding drills

Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals (DC) are set to start their campaign in the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Prior to the game at the Wankhede Stadium, the team has been sweating it out. To make the players prepare well, head coach Ricky Ponting has come up with an amusing way of improving the fielding standards of his team.

The full squad was divided into two groups and was asked to compete against each other. The retired Australian captain can be seen, saying that the losing team will have to perform 50 push-ups on not being able to perform the drill efficiently.

The drill involved aiming at the stumps from a distance and then going on to perform another task. It was Pant’s team, who won and Chris Woakes’ team was left stranded. Woakes’ team, thereafter, had to perform the pushups, the video of which is shared on social media.

Steve Smith excited to play under Rishabh Pant

Earlier, Steve Smith sounded excited to ply his trade Pant’s leadership. He also reckons that Pant has the ingredients to succeed as the skipper.

“I’m excited to see Rishabh (Pant) as captain. I think he is an incredible player, as we have seen over the last few months. He has taken his game to a new level, and I think captaincy will suit him really well. So, excited to work underneath him, and hopefully, we can have a successful season,” Smith was quoted as saying.

Ponting, back in January, had drawn Pant’s parallels to former Aussie wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. Pant was one of India’s standout performers in the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy.

“We talk about MS Dhoni all the time and his impact on Indian cricket. He played a lot of Tests for India but made only six Test hundreds,” Ponting was quoted as saying.

“This kid will make a lot more Test hundreds than that. We talk about him in the commentary box and he is sort of like another Adam Gilchrist,” he added.

In the 2021 IPL, Pant was named the skipper after Shreyas Iyer dislocated his shoulder and was ruled out of the entire tournament.