“Jab jersey pehen kr enter krunga…”: Delhi Capitals’ skipper Pant’s special message for home crowd ahead of SRH clash

New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant had a special message for the home fans at Arun Jaitley Stadium, expressing his excitement to wear the colours of the franchise and play in front of his home crowd.

DC will be locking horns with SRH at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. DC is at the sixth spot with three wins and four losses, giving them six points. They won their previous game against the Gujarat Titans. SRH is at the fourth spot with four wins and two losses, giving them eight points. They won their last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

This will be Delhi’s first game at home arena of Arun Jaitley Stadium this season. Previously, due to Women’s Premier League (WPL) matches being held in Delhi in March 2024, including the final on March 23, DC played its first two home games at Visakhapatnam against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on March 31 and then Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 3.

Ahead of the game, DC’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle, released a special message from Pant, who will be playing in front of the home crowds for the first time since 2022 after missing out on the entire 2023 season due to a car accident in December 2022.

The wicketkeeper-batter and captain said in his message, “Delhi, Kotla (the old name of the stadium, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium), ghar. Itne dinno bad Kotla mein. Bahut zyada time hai na yeah, haina? DC jersey pehen ke jab enter karunga na, excitement, nervousness, butterflies, mixed feelings rahengi, but khushi bhi hogi, apni Delhi ke saamne fir bat ghumane ki, apni Delhi ke saamne Delhi ki team ko lead karne ki, apni Delhi ke saamne, unn fans ke pyaar aur blessings ko fir paane ki. Intezaar rahega, apni Delhi ka, unka neela pehen kr aane ka. Aapka apna, Rishabh. (Delhi, Kotla, home. After so long at Kotla, isn’t it? When I take to the field wearing the DC jersey, there will be excitement, nervousness and mixed feelings. But there will also be happiness, of swinging my bat in front of the Delhi crowd, leading the Delhi team in my city, and taking the blessing and affection of my fans in Delhi once again. I will wait for you Delhi, to come to the stadium in Blue jersey. Yours, Rishabh).”

In seven matches in the tournament so far, Pant has scored 210 runs at an average of 35.00 and a strike rate of 156.71, with two half-centuries. His best score is 55. Pant has also been brilliant and energetic behind the stumps, picking up some fine catches and carrying out some quick stumpings.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (w), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal

Delhi Capitals Squad: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Sumit Kumar, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Kumar Kushagra, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Lizaad Williams, David Warner, Jhye Richardson, Anrich Nortje, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Ricky Bhui, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vicky Ostwal, Swastik Chikara.