IPL 2022: Bat slips out of Rishabh Pant's hands after playing reverse sweep off Varun Chakaravarthy

Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant hasn’t had a great Indian Premier League (IPL) season. He was criticised a lot for not playing his natural game against Lucknow Super Giants which led to DC posting a below-par total and eventually losing the game by six wickets. Maybe in an attempt to respond to all the criticism, Pant came out all guns blazing with the bat in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday.

He had the platform set thanks to a scintillating opening partnership of 93 runs between Prithvi Shaw and David Warner in less than nine overs. Shaw scored a sparkling fifty and then the DC skipper just came out to play his ‘natural’ game. By the time, Rishabh Pant played his first 8 balls, he had slammed two fours and a six clearing his intentions early.

One of those fours came off a reverse sweep off Varun Chakaravarthy. The southpaw timed the ball extremely well as the ball raced away to the boundary. However, Pant lost his balance after playing the shot and also lost the grip of his bat which flew close to his stumps to land behind the wicket-keeper. Those were comical scenes in the middle as Rishabh Pant was lucky that the bat didn’t hit his stumps to get out hit-wicket.

Here’s the video:

Just #RishabhPant things! pic.twitter.com/ldOLRsN1MV

— Raj (@Raj93465898) April 10, 2022

Rishabh Pant scored a quickfire 27 off 14 balls

Rishabh Pant literally played his natural game helping the Delhi Capitals continue with the run-rate of above 11. He scored 27 off just 14 deliveries with 2 fours and as many sixes. However, the short ball strategy worked against the left-hander as Andre Russell got the better of him with Umesh Yadav taking a good catch at a fine deep backward point area. Rishabh Pant would’ve certainly loved to stay in the middle for more time but with the way he was batting on the day, there was always a risk of him getting out.

Nevertheless, it was a brilliant knock that helped David Warner play a kind of second fiddle during the 55-run partnership for the second wicket that came off just 4.1 overs.