Rishabh Pant’s return to cricket ended in failure as Delhi Capitals lost to Kings XI Punjab in four games. DC’s bowling weakened PBKS after they posted 174/9 in 20 overs, Ishant Sharma bowling Shikhar Dhawan in the fourth over and Prabhsimran Singh. But in the sixth round, Ishant Sharma sprained his ankle while defending. That thing broke DC’s rhythm. DC captain Pant later cited this as the reason for their defeat.

Ishant was removed from the pitch after the incident.

“I think Ishant’s injury was evident on the field, we were already down one bowler because of the batting and Abhishek Porel did a great job and gave us the extra runs, but we were always It was one bowler missing. The boys did a great job of holding us back. “Going into all phases of the game,” Pant said after the loss.

With Ishant having two games available, Pant had to use the bowling of Mitchell Marsh and Sumit Kumar. The hands are no longer as sharp as before and he was shocked by it on his IPL debut.

“The wicket performed as we expected, no excuses. We will learn from it but missing a bowler is never good. We were short in terms of extra bowlers. We actually pulled it back in the end (but Can’t get the job done). That’s a big part of the game,” the captain said.

He may not have set the stage on fire in his comeback, scoring 18 runs off 13 balls with the help of two boundaries, but he did enough to suggest he was back, causing a stumble and catching the ball.

“Personally, I was very nervous (while batting) but you have to go through that when you get on the field. It’s not the first time I was nervous but happy about it (overall return),” Pant said on Said the press conference about his return after the game.

He was full of praise for young Abhishek Porel, whose unbeaten 10-ball 32 has given his team something to fight for.

“Abhishek came on and hit a couple of runs which was crucial. It was an amazing innings, congratulations to him. I think it was only his third or fourth game but the impact he made was Huge. Really looking forward to seeing him this season,” Pant said.

PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan was pleased with the team’s performance and specially praised the efforts of Sam Curran (63 off 47) and Liam Livingstone (38 off 21).

“This is the first time I’ve played at this level since the last IPL. I feel we missed a few extra runs and of course there will be extra nerves in the first game. That’s normal. It feels like the wickets are there The chase got better. Sam bowled well and Livingstone finished well,” he said.

With PTI input