Aakash Chopra asks Rishabh Pant to bat up the order, saying, “Heart cried when Rishabh Pant came to bat very low.”

Delhi’s captain and best batsman, Rishabh Pant, must take the lead if the team is to make the playoffs. This season, the big-hitting wicketkeeper has amassed 342 runs in nine games, including three outstanding fifties. But there has been discussion about where he bats in the lineup.

With the IPL 2024 halfway through, the unreliable Delhi Capitals (DC) need to win every game. Delhi takes against the ninth-place Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday afternoon at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Delhi is currently in sixth place on the points standings.

Akash Chopra, a former Indian opener who is now a broadcaster, has advised Pant to bat higher up the order against Mumbai in order to assume more responsibility. Chopra took issue with Delhi’s strategy of keeping Pant at a distance during their previous match at Wankhede against MI.

“Rishabh Pant is my first player. When Rishabh Pant came to bat very low against this team the last time, my heart broke. He could only have won the game, so I thought he ought to have batted. Mumbai defeated them by the slimmest of margins,” Chopra posted on his YouTube page.

I will raise my hands and ask Rishabh Pant to: Aakash Chopra

During a challenging 235-run chase in that match, the Delhi camp threw in uncapped Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs ahead of Pant. The asking rate had soared by the time Pant got to the crease, and DC lost by 29 runs.

Pant’s recent 88-run innings against the Gujarat Titans were praised by Chopra as the kind of significant innings that his team consistently requires from its captain.

“With that said, I shall humbly ask Rishabh to come fulfil the order. Nobody will be able to play better than you if the conditions are even slightly slower than they were in the last game, when you earned 88 points. Thus, kindly raise the batting order’, the former opener for India said.

Pant’s 43-ball thrashing of GT was a masterclass in restrained intensity and superb strokework. He took on the opposition bowlers when batting at number five, scoring 31 runs in one over of Mohit Sharma’s bowling.

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The Delhi team has put up some strong performances after a difficult start to the season, putting them in the running to make the playoffs. In their next match, the 2020 finalists will be looking to win over Mumbai, the five-time champions.