How Rishabh Pant can improve his World Cup prospects

I am happy to bat wherever the team needs me: Pant

Image: Pant scored 78 runs off 27 balls as Delhi Capitals beat Mumbai Indians by 37 runs. Image credit: IPL/Twitter

Rishabh Pant, whose side’s defeat in the Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Sunday added luster to his prospects of selection for the World Cup, said he is happy to bat in whatever position the team wants him to.

“Well, I am happy to bat in whatever position the team wants me to bat in,” said the 21-year-old Pant after he scored 78 runs off 27 balls to help Delhi Capitals to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians.

When asked about his quick rise, he said: “It has been a great journey and I am working hard and learning every day in my cricket career. It feels good when your team wins. Most of the time I always play according to the situation.”

Score card

“I needed to improve the team’s scoring rate this time and I took my chance and I did that today. Especially in T20s, you have to do something different. When the bowlers crowd you, you need to make space for yourself.”

Delhi’s dazzling player smashed seven towering sixes and four fours at the Wankhede Stadium to send fear into the hearts of Mumbai Indians’ bowlers and give the renamed Delhi Capitals the fresh start they were craving.

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma praised Pant’s batting and said he will make some changes to the team line-up in the next match.

“The first match is always a bit challenging for most teams. There are a lot of new players in the team as well. We made a lot of mistakes today, simple as that. When we bowled, we were pretty much on top in the first 10 overs, but the way Rishabh batted, you have to give him credit.”

Leading the perennially slow-burning team, he added: “The combination may change in the next game. We want to see what combination the opponent plays and then decide. When we batted, the ball still came well. We still got 180 in the end. No one went on to get a high score.”

“Yuvi batted very well and had a couple of cameos. If one of the top three or four had scored 70-80, it would have been a different story.”

Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer said: “To be honest, I am very well prepared for the captaincy. I have been leading India A and the domestic team. It has been a great experience so far and we have been bonding and training really well.”

“(Pant) is a destructive batsman. I have seen him mature a lot over the years. He started out facing a few zero balls and then all of a sudden he was hitting 250. He is a great batsman and we are glad to have him in our squad.”