Captain Rishabh Pant thought that DC’s lack of a bowler, resulting from Ishant Sharma’s injury, was a major factor in their defeat over PBKS.

On his 15-month cricket career comeback, Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant blamed Ishant Sharma‘s injury for his team’s inability to defend the 174 in an IPL 2024 match against the Punjab Kings at the newly constructed stadium in Mullanpur, Punjab, which also made its IPL debut on Saturday.

In the sixth over of the chase, Ishant Sharma, 37, who had earlier removed PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan and caused Jonny Bairstow to be run out, sustained an injury.

He left the field with a limp and never came back. Due to their batting failure earlier in the day, DC was left without a bowler and was unable to select a bowler as their Impact Player, unlike the side batting first.

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After PBKS chased down the mark with four wickets remaining in the final over, Pant stated in the post-match interview that “Ishant’s injury was clearly evident because we were anyway one player short because we lagged with the batting a bit.”

Due to Ishant’s injury, Pant was forced to bowl two overs of Sumit Kumar and use Mitchell Marsh’s whole allotment, which cost them 52 runs.

Midway through the first innings, DC had to alter their initial plan, which called for them to insert Mukesh Kumar as an Impact player to provide them with additional defensive cushioning.

After DC was reduced to 138 for 7 in 17.1 overs, Abishek Porel was brought in as an additional batsman.

The decision to insert Porel as an Impact Player paid off well for DC, as the youthful left-hander—who was added to the team as an injured Pant’s substitute last year—scored 32 off of just 10 balls, driving the DC total to 174.

“Abishek entered the game and contributed a couple of vital runs. Well done on an incredible inning; congratulations.

Even though it was just his third or fourth game, he had a significant impact. Truly excited to see him this season,” Pant remarked.

With four balls remaining, Punjab managed to chase down 175 thanks to a brilliant contribution from fellow countryman Liam Livingstone (38 not out off 21 balls), who blasted his way to a 47-ball 63.

Pant returned to cricket and scored 18 from 13 balls. “I was a little anxious, but this is something you have to experience when you enter the field. Being anxious is nothing new for him, but he is often pleased with the return “he remarked.

Pant said that the score was par and that things would have turned out differently if DC hadn’t lost Ishant to an injury.

“I believe we scored at par, but there’s not much we can do about being one bowler short due to an injury.

Can’t make excuses, the wicket played as we anticipated. One bowler short is never good, but we will learn from it.

At the end of the day, I suppose they [the Kings] performed well.”

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