South African speedste had only good things to say about his first-hand experience of playing under young Rishabh Pant’s captaincy for Delhi Capitals in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021.
On Wednesday, Anrich Nortje played his first game with Pant at the helm against the Sunrisers Hyderabad after missing the first half of the tournament due to injury. The right-arm pacer delivered a fantastic four-over spell for figures of 2/12 in the Capital’s thumping victory over SRH by eight wickets.
“He has got a good eye of what’s going to happen in the game, and that’s really nice having that especially as a captain.
The simple things like being good with angles and where fielders need to be placed, projecting what’s going to happen, really nice having him at the back.”
said the express quick.
Pant took over from the injured Shreyas Iyer for the Indian leg of the IPL 2021 and impressed the DC team management and ownership group so much that he was retained at the helm for the UAE leg even as Iyer returned following an extended rehab.
Under Pant this year, DC have won seven of their nine matches and are positioned second on NRR to Chennai Super Kings, who have an identical 7-2 win/loss record in the tournament so far.
Impressively, captaincy has not had a negative effect on Pant’s batting, as he has made 248 runs from his nine innings at an average of 41.33 and strike-rate of 135.51. DC will hope that their skipper continues to flourish and leads them from the front through the season.
Delhi Capitals will play against Rajasthan Royals on September 25.
