Although his comeback match didn’t see him set the stage ablaze, Pant managed to score 18 runs off 13 balls, including two boundaries.More importantly, his performance hinted at his return to form, evident through a stumping and a catch he executed during the game.”Personally I was pretty nervous (while batting) but you have to go through this when you enter the field. This isn’t the first time being nervous, but happy about that (return overall),” Pant said at the post-match press conference about his return.
Pant’s comeback match didn’t yield the desired outcome, and the unfortunate ankle twist suffered by Ishant Sharma left the team with one less bowler during the crucial final stages of the match.
“Ishant’s injury was clearly evident because we were anyway one player short because we lagged with the batting a bit. I think we had a par score but because we were one bowler short, because of an injury, can’t do much about it,” he admitted.
With only Ishant’s two overs available, Pant found himself relying on Mitchell Marsh, whose bowling prowess may have waned, and Sumit Kumar, who was making his IPL debut and appeared overwhelmed by the occasion.
“Wicket played as we expected to play, can’t make excuses. We will learn from it but having one bowler short is never good. We were short in terms of extra bowler. We actually pulled it back in the end (but couldn’t complete the job). It is part and parcel of the game,” the skipper said.
He was all praise for young Abhishek Porel, whose unbeaten 32 off 10 balls gave his team something to fight for.
“Abhishek came in and chipped in with a few runs which were crucial. It was an amazing innings, congrats to him. I think it’s just his third or fourth game but the kind of impact he made was huge. Really looking forward to seeing him this season,” Pant said.
PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan was satisfied with the performance of his side, and particularly praised Sam Curran (63 off 47) and Liam Livingstone (38 not out off 21) for their efforts.
“This is the first time I’m playing at this level since the last IPL. I felt we leaked a few extra runs, of course extra nerves are there in the first match. It’s normal. Felt the wicket got better during the chase. Sam played well and Livingstone finished it beautifully,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)