In the last 18 months, Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has gone from strength to strength in all formats of the game by playing several match-winning knocks for the team. Pant, who led Delhi Capitals (DC) in the first half of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 as Shreyas Iyer sustained a shoulder injury, was retained as the captain even in the UAE leg of the tournament.
One of the hottest properties in world cricket, Pant-led DC produced a terrific show in the first half of IPL 2021 before the tournament was suspended. At a press conference organized by Delhi Capitals (DC), Pant – who is a huge fan of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, shared his biggest learning from Dhoni as a leader.
“Biggest learning is to focus on the process and results will follow. That’s one of the biggest mantras that I have been following for a while now and it helps,” Pant said in response to a query from timesnownews.com.
Talking about the things he has learned during his early days as a skipper from Ricky Ponting – one of the wisest cricketing brains in world cricket, Pant added that the legendary Australian cricketer had taught him to treat everybody in the team equally.
“I have learned from Ricky that you have to treat everyone equally in the team. From junior players to senior players to coach, if you respect everyone in the team, it will be a good combination. When you start respecting players and the support staff around you, special things happen. When you respect them, they are going to give whatever they have for you. That’s what you want as a skipper – for the team to stand for you each and every time,” Pant added.
DC will open their campaign in the UAE leg against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Talking about the team’s preparations for the match, Ponting said that DC have a lot of respect for SRH but he was confident that his boys will get the job done.
“The IPL is such a tournament that anyone on any day can turn up and beat each other. We have got great respect for the Sunrisers. They have got some great world-class players in Warner, Williamson and also Rashid Khan – who is also their key player and has given us some trouble in the past. They are usually not a high-scoring team but they back their defensive side of the game, their bowling has always been their strength, a hard bowling unit to get on top of. I am pretty confident that our boys will get the job done tomorrow,” Ponting said.
