DC vs RR: Devdutt Padikkal’s superlative catch sends Rishabh Pant packing
India Today
IPL 2022: Rishabh Pant scored 44 runs off 24 balls before Prasidh Krishna accounted for his crucial wicket at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Devdutt Padikkal, on Friday, took an absolute blinder to dismiss a dangerous looking Rishabh Pant during the Rajasthan Royals' (RR) match against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After being asked to chase down 223 following Jos Buttler’s century, the Capitals got off to a flying start. But their openers, Prithvi Shaw and David Warner perished after scoring 37 and 28 runs respectively. Sarfaraz Khan getting out cheaply also put pressure on the Capitals’ batting.
From there on, Rishabh Pant took charge for the Capitals and kept peppering the boundary with utmost ease. The southpaw was throwing the kitchen sink at everything and seemed like taking the game away from the opposition.
Just when Pant was looking ominous, Prasidh Krishna got rid of Pant. But the right-arm pacer wouldn’t have got the wicket had Padikkal not pulled off the stunning catch. Krishna churned out a back-of-a-length delivery and Pant tried to play a cross-batted stroke through the on-side.
But the batter only found a top edge and the ball went miles up in the air. The ball wobbled on its way down and it wasn’t easy for Padikkal to catch hold of it. But the fielder kept his composure and judged the trajectory of the ball to perfection.
In the end, Padikkal had to dive forward and complete the catch. Pant perished after scoring 44 runs off 24 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes. It was a crucial breakthrough for the Royals as Pant could easily have taken the game away from there.
