From the time Rishabh Pant elected to bowl first after a brief giggle to decide his decision upon winning the toss, everything went right for him in ensuring Delhi Capitals thrashed Gujarat Titans by six wickets.

It was a match where Pant the captain got it right at the toss, and used his bowlers well to ensure GT were bowled out for just 89 on a slow black-soil pitch. DC then finished off the facile chase in 8.5 overs, with Pant being 16 not out to pick the Player of the Match award, his first honour since returning to the game, for a terrific all-round performance.

Pant took two catches and effected as many stumpings, apart from being at his chirpy best behind the stumps and calming down Kuldeep Yadav at times, to remind everyone about the joy of seeing him do his thing with the keeping gloves on, as well as with the bat later on.

“Lots of things to be pleased about. We spoke about champion mindset and our team spoke about it. I think we just want to enjoy one win at a time. They are hard to come by but you have to enjoy each and every moment.”

“Definitely one of the best (bowling effort by DC in IPL 2024). Still early in the tournament and we can still improve from here. The only conversation was to get it (the chase) as early as possible because we lost few NRR points in some other games where we lost,” said Pant after the match ended.

In the match, Pant dived full stretch to his left for taking a low catch of David Miller, followed by getting the decision changed successfully on review. He would also take a high catch of Rashid Khan to ensure GT’s last scoring hope was gone way before reaching three-figures.

With a child-like smile, Pant was quick to dislodge the bails for completing the stumping of Abhinav Manohar off Tristan Stubbs. A ball later, impact player Shahrukh Khan stepped down the pitch to pull off Stubbs, but missed it and Pant, despite not gathering it cleanly, completed the stumping as the ball bounced off his gloves to hit the stumps.

“The only thought process before coming to the field is that I wanted to come in in a better way. Only thought when I was doing my rehab. Each and every match I am loving the process and being on the ground,” said Pant about coming good with bat and gloves, which gives a lot of joy to Indian team, especially with T20 World Cup selection around the corner.

Shubman Gill, the GT captain, was dismayed at how his batters totally lost the plot, resulting in their heavy defeat at home. “Our batting was very average. Need to move on from this game and come back with the same mindset before the next game. The wicket was alright. If you see our dismissals – me, Saha and Sai – it had nothing to do with the pitch.”

“When the opposition is chasing 89, unless your bowler takes a double hat-trick, you cannot win. This is halfway of the season and we’ve won 3 games already. Hopefully we win 5-6 more in the second half like the past couple of years.”

DC and Pant will now proceed to play at their main ground in New Delhi for the first time this season, where they will host a marauding and in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 20. One would hope that the side’s as well as Pant’s return to their original home ground would kickstart a run and hope for them to enter the playoffs, especially after annihilating GT in their backyard.