'This one minute is taken by you' - Rishabh Pant hilariously tells umpire to escape getting fined for slow over-rate

The BCCI, ahead of the start of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), released strict rules and regulations to tackle the slow over-rate issue. Many experts had expressed concerns earlier about matches going well past mid-night and accordingly, the board announced hefty fines while also directing teams to finish their 20 overs within 90 minutes including the time allotted for strategic time-outs.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni is the only captain so far to have copped the fine of Rs 12 lakh. And the Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant also seems to be well aware of the same as he hilariously took a cheeky dig at umpire during the game against Rajasthan Royals.

The Capitals were defending 147 and during one of the overs, the on-field umpire stopped the bowler from delivering only to count the number of fielders outside the 30-year circle. This is when Rishabh Pant told umpire that the start of the over has been delayed due to him. “This one minute has been taken by you umpire,” Pant said to the straight umpire and was cheekily smiling too.

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— pant shirt fc (@pant_fc) April 16, 2021

Rishabh Pant scored 51 on a tough pitch

As for Rishabh Pant’s performance is concerned, he was the only Delhi Capitals batsman who looked comfortable in the middle. Jaydev Unadkat nipped out their top three within the powerplay overs which brought the DC skipper to the crease very early. However, the southpaw didn’t disappoint and made sure that he brought the stability to the innings with his brilliant batting.

He maturely stitched a partnership with Lalit Yadav and then launched an assault on Rahul Tewatia who was bowling his first over to churn 20 runs off his over. In the process, Pant also got to his half-century with the fifth wicket stand also reaching 51 runs. Just when one felt the Delhi skipper will open his arms and play a big knock, Riyan Parag‘s excellent atheticism cut short the promising innings.

Nevertheless, Rishabh Pant managed to score 51 runs off 32 balls with nine fours and on the back of his knock, DC managed to post a competitive total of 147 runs in their 20 overs.