Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant. (Source – Twitter/X)
The debut season of Delhi Premier League (DPL 2024) has attracted immense attention as stars like Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan graced the stage. Dhawan is the co-owner of South Delhi Superstars and Pant was captain of the Purani Dilli 6 team as both teams played the season opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on August 18.
Pant after scoring 35 off 32 was dismissed and Dhawan who was near the boundary rope giving an interview, halted the conversation to share a warm hug with his national teammate. The wicket-keeper batter smashed four boundaries and a maximum as Purani Dilli 6 put 197 runs on board against South Delhi Superstars.
Rishabh Pant hugs Shikhar Dhawan in Delhi Premier League.
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Also Read: Rishabh Pant on importance of Delhi Premier League
Pant braces for domestic cricket ahead of India’s home season
Rishabh Pant was instrumental in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 as the batter played some match-saving innings at the start of the tournament. But the southpaw displayed an underwhelming performance in the white-ball series against Sri Lanka. There were no qualms about his fitness after coming out from a life-threatening accident, but the red-ball remains a hard challenge for the Uttarakhand batter as the Bangladesh series is scheduled in September.
Also Read: ‘Trust your abilities and work hard’ – Ishant Sharma’s advice to Purani Dilli 6 youngsters
However, the management seems to backing the cricketer well as he will feature in the upcoming Duleep Trophy. Along with Pant, several other Indian stars like Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, and Ishan Kishan will also feature. BCCI Secretary, Jay Shah, even addressed that Iyer and Kishan were not provided central contracts by Ajit Agarkar.
“You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting). That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, even when these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) who did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his,” said Shah.