Shreyas Iyer played a crucial knock of 43 from 32 balls to lift Delhi Capitals to a 33-run victory against Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
A good came of cricket ended with a touch of unwanted controversy.
While the batting looks in perfect shape, India's new-look pace department needs to come up with something special against the Proteas in Cuttack on Sunday.
Young wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, facing flak for his performance behind the wickets during the just-concluded ODI series against Australia, briefly worked with former India stumper Kiran More in Mumbai on Friday.
Rishabh Pant made a statement by guiding Delhi Capitals to a win over Rajasthan Royals with a 36-ball 78.
Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel picked Rishabh Pant as the key player for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021, while adding that the young left-hander is capable of winning matches on his own and can be better than former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Images from the ongoing IPL 2022 match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals from the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
'Prithvi got us to a decent start... We were always in the chase since it was a low total. Shikhar started well... Absolutely big win, and want to be absolutely sure we finish in the top two.'
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting says it will take a very good player to knock Rishabh Pant off the Indian team.
With 288 runs at a strike rate of 225, Nicholas Pooran is the top run-getter in IPL 2025, while Mohammed Siraj has been brilliant in Powerplay overs with 10 wickets in five games.
Images from the IPL match played between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday
DC would have expected their bowling attack to fire on all cylinders, but that was not be.
Rishabh Pant was in a for surprise visit from Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth.
Rishabh Pant's brute power will be put to test against Rashid Khan's bagful of tricks in an IPL encounter where Delhi Capitals will start as favourites against SunRisers Hyderabad due to their better bowling resources.
'If there had been 10 teams in IPL 1, 2 or 3 the talent pool would have been stretched thin but now the depth in Indian cricket alone means you have seven world class players as the local Indian player and the overseas players complement them.'
Delhi Capitals need to win all their remaining three matches to keep their hopes alive of making it to the IPL 2022 play-offs.
In all, Axar has led in 24 matches across all formats, winning 12, losing 10 and two matches ended in a draw.
The never-ending speculation surrounding Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement, Virat Kohli's 16-year-itch, the second chance that life has offered Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma's bleeding heart will make for intriguing sub-plots in the annual carnival called the Indian Premier League starting on Friday.
Ahead of the mini-auction, scheduled to be held in Doha on December 26, the 10 franchises have released their list of retained and released players.
With just two wins from seven games, the Royals, languishing at eighth on the table, come into the contest on the back of a gut-wrenching Super Over defeat to Delhi Capitals.
In terms of sheer numbers there is not much to choose between the two wicketkeepers.
There has been a lot of speculations about K L Rahul's future as LSG skipper after his 'public reprimand' by team owner Sanjiv Goenka.
New 'Captain Cool' in Town: Shreyas Iyer could be the leader India needs
Rishabh Pant has played five matches in this year's IPL so far, and he has managed to score 171 runs at an average of 42.75.
'Make it a habit that this is how it's going to be under my captaincy.'
Glimpses of the Indian and South African T20 teams as they practiced for today's first T20 game at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Pant has often been compared to Gilchrist due to his strikingly similar batting to the Australia legend.
Pant was appointed as the Delhi Capitals skipper following the injury to regular captain Shreyas Iyer,
Former India coach Ravi Shastri says Rishabh Pant must bat in the "Andre Russell mode" and not change the tempo once he gets going in T20 cricket.
Shreyas Iyer says he relished captaining the Delhi Capitals in the IPL but completely respects the team management's decision to let Rishabh Pant stay as leader of the pack till the end of the 2021 season.
While the return of pace spearhead Anrich Nortje, who had been nursing an injury, bolstered the bowling unit, the South African, who hasn't bowled since the T20 World Cup in November, looked understandably rusty.
All about IPL 2025 which kicks off on March 22, Saturday.
Ponting also cleared the air on veteran pacer Ishant Sharma and David Warner's fitness status, confirming that the former is fit for selection on Tuesday.
Rishabh Pant has often been criticised for not putting a price on his wicket. But Suresh Raina said that the wicket-keeper is as dominant as Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag.
Pant, who was once seen as heir apparent to Dhoni, has faced flak for his keeping skills right from the beginning of his career.
In the absence of their regular captain Rishabh Pant, DC have also been struggling in the league.
Nicholas Pooran is not just in form -- he's in a league of his own.
Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni says the execution of the bowlers was poor against Delhi Capitals in their IPL opener, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Delhi Capitals' new skipper Rishabh Pant says walking out with Mahendra Singh Dhoni for toss in their IPL opener was a special moment for him, as the Chennai Super Kings talisman is his "go-to man".
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