Why did Rishabh Pant Declare in IPL 2022 Match vs Rajasthan Royals?

Delhi Capitals started their Indian Premier League 2023 campaign with a defeat against Lucknow Super Giants. The Capitals are missing their regular captain Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out of the tournament. Pant suffered a major accident last year and is still recovering from the same.

After multiple surgeries on his knee, Pant is set to be on the sidelines for a prolonged period. Former cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, etc. all met Pant at his home recently to ensure the wicket-keeper’s well-being. It is certain that the Capitals will definitely miss their captain throughout the campaign.

Pant was named the captain of Delhi ahead of IPL 2021 after then-captain Shreyas Iyer got injured. It is known that Pant is a character on the field and one such incident happened in IPL 2022 where he lost his temper and almost asked his players to forfeit the match in between.

Why did Rishabh Pant Declare in IPL 2022 Match vs Rajasthan Royals?

The incident happened during the 34th match of IPL 2022 between DC and Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. The Royals batted first and scored 222/2 where batter Jos Buttler played a brilliant knock of 116 (65). He got great support from his fellow opener Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 54 (35).

In reply, the batters of Delhi never got settled. Pant played a fine cameo of 44 (24) with the help of four boundaries and two sixes. To win the match, Delhi needed 36 runs off the last over. To give some excitement, batter Rovman Powell smashed three sixes on the first three balls off Royals’ bowler Obed McCoy.

However, the third ball sparked a controversy. The ball was quite high and McCoy was lucky that it was not called a no-ball. Kuldeep Yadav, who was at the non-striker’s end, was animated over the call and was asking the umpires to refer it upstairs. Powell then joined him as well.

Pant, who was sitting in the dugout also got furious and asked Powell and Yadav to leave the field. Delhi’s assistant coach Shane Watson was trying to calm him down, but Pant was in no mood to chill. Another assistant coach, Praveen Amre, then ran on to the pitch to have a discussion with the umpires.

However, the umpires stuck to their call. In the end, Delhi ended up losing the match by 15 runs.

Rishabh Pant fined 100% of his match fees

Capitals’ captain was penalized for his actions and rightly so. Pant admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.7 of the IPL Code of Conduct. He was fined 100% of his match fees for the same. Amre was handed a match ban and fined 100% of his fee as well.