Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson revealed that they focused only on putting the bad ball away during their memorable 63-ball 143-run stand on Thursday against the Gujarat Lions. Thanks to that stand, Delhi Daredevils easily chased down a daunting target of 209, the second-highest in Indian Premier League history.
“I hit two sixes and wanted to take a single,” said Samson to Delhi Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid after the match, with Rishabh Pant also in tow. “So he [Pant] came to me and said, ‘Bhaiya, zyada socho mat, bas marte raho [Brother, don’t think so much, just keep hitting]. That really helped me to go on. Enjoyed batting with him.”
Pant also elaborated on the conversations they had during the partnership. “I told Sanju bhai, if the ball is there to hit, just hit it. Don’t think about the next ball. If the next ball is there to hit, then again hit the ball.”
The left-hander lit up the tournament with a blazing 43-ball 97 and he said there was not a lot of planning involved.
“If we get a bad ball, we’ll hit it. We just planned everything like that. We weren’t thinking about the next ball.”
For his part, Samson said positivity played a big role in his knock: “This game is all about mindset. The mindset was very clear and very set and very positive. I just backed myself.”
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