Suresh Raina shows the perfect spirit with consoling gesture to Rishabh Pant

The Gujarat Lions skipper Suresh Raina was seen wanting for options when his team was defending 208 against the Delhi Daredevils at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Earlier in the game, Raina himself had plundered 77 runs to see Lions post a total in excess of 200. Little did he know, that he will be up against the youth brigade of Delhi Daredevils who would go on to torment the Lions bowling lineup.

Young batsmen Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant stitched a match-winning 143 run stand in just 63 balls to see the Daredevils make short work of the run chase. En route the scintillating partnership, both batsmen reached their respective fifties too. Samson perished after scoring 61 off just 31 balls with 7 sixes. However, the innings that arguably overshadowed all other performances on the night was from Delhi batter Rishabh Pant.

Pant took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners with absolute power hitting. Some of his shots were perfectly timed copybook shots that sailed over the ropes due to sheer timing. At times when he failed to time them perfectly, he had the ample amount of power behind his shots to see the end result going in his favor. It was only a matter of time that Pant raced past his fifty in just 27 balls.

Soon he was racing towards his maiden IPL ton as well. In the meantime, the praises had started coming in from all corners. The legends like Sachin Tendulkar started hailing the knock as one of the best in the IPL. However, much to the disappointment of Pant and all the fans, he fell short of his maiden ton by just 3 runs.

It was in the 15th over when he was batting on 97 that Basil Thampi came in to bowl to him. A wide delivery from Thampi saw Pant chasing the ball. He ended up getting a faint tickle on the bat that landed straight in the gloves of Dinesh Karthik. He was stunned and so were the spectators.

Against all wishes, he had to drag himself out of the park falling three short of a well deserved century. He scored 97 off 43 balls with 6 fours and 9 sixes. Just before he headed back to the dugout, Suresh Raina showed a very sporting gesture for the young batsman. He went up to the batsman and held his helmet grill trying to console Pant. He had a few words of consolation to share as well.

Suresh Raina was all praise for Pant after the game as well. He heaped praises on Pant in the post match presentation.

“I think it is a Rishabh Pant day. He batted really well along with Sanju Samson. We tried everything – the slower ball, yorker – but couldn’t stop the runs. Rishabh and Sanju are the future of the Indian team. I have been hitting the ball really well, maybe I would say 20 runs short, but credit to Sanju and Rishabh,” quoted Suresh Raina.

Watch the video here:

Raina be like “Aur kitni lega be hamari? Chal ab” pic.twitter.com/lOFDsCz31m

— Pawan SinghA (@urbanpendu00) May 4, 2017