How to deal with Rishabh Pant? Dinesh Karthik has 'one-foot' advice for IPL wicket-keepers

Kolkata Knight Riders' wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, took to his official Twitter handle on Monday to wish Delhi Capitals' skipper Rishabh Pant on his birthday and also came up with advice for the wicketkeepers behind the stumps when Pant is batting. Karthik sarcastically advised wicketkeepers to stay at least a foot away from the stump when Rishabh Pant is in the crease. His advice comes after the DC vs KKR, match no. 41 of IPL 2021 on September 28, when Pant almost hit Karthik with his bat while playing a shot. 

In the 17th over of the match, while playing spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s first ball of the over, Pant went for a drive through the offside but bottom-edged the ball. In the process of avoiding the ball to knock the stumps, Pant swat the ball away with his bat, nearly missing hitting Karthik on his helmet. The replay during the match made it evident that it was a close shave for Karthik. Pant went on to play an innings of 39 runs off 36 balls as Delhi posted a below-par total of 127 runs with the loss of nine wickets. KKR bowlers came up with a brilliant display of bowling as Lockie Ferguson, Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer chipped in with two wickets each. Tim Southee also took a wicket for KKR as Pant and Avesh Khan were dismissed in run-outs.

Sunil Narine adjourned Player of the match for contributing with 2/18 and 21 runs off 10 balls.

In reply to DC’s target, KKR chased down the target with 10 balls left to go in the second innings of the match. Despite having few hiccups in the form of Rahul Tripathi getting dismissed for nine runs and skipper Eoin Morgan returning on a duck, Karthik, and Nitish Rana added 29 to their total for the fifth wicket. After Karthik’s dismissal, Narine scored a quickfire 21 runs and added 26 runs, accompanied by Rana for the sixth wicket. Sunil Narine was awarded the Player of the match title, courtesy of his bowling effort of 2/18 and the 21 important runs he scored off 10 balls. KKR won the match, with Rana and Ferguson out in the middle. Meanwhile, Pant will lead DC again on Monday, during their clash against Chennai Super Kings(CSK) at the Dubai International Stadium.

(Instagram Image: @delhicapitals/BCCI)