With the high adrenaline action all set to unfold across 56 matches in 45 days over three venues in the UAE, all the eight franchises are leaving no stones unturned to fine tune their preparations and fix all cogs in the wheel.
Delhi Capitals are also in their groove to get their act together with some intense practice sessions at the Sharjah Stadium. DC's hard hitting wicket keeeper batsman Rishabh Pant looked in ominous form as he tonked spinners for some towering sixes to all corners of the park during a practice session at the Sharjah Stadium.
Delhi Capitals shared a video on Twitter on Tuesday in which Pant can be seen hitting one six after another. The team captioned it as, “An Indian southpaw smashing sixes off spinners at will in Sharjah... Well, where have we heard that before?”
Delhi Capital's tweet on Pant's six hitting exploits threw a hint for fans and made them nostalgic about the six hitting spectacle by former Indian skipper and left handed opening batsman Sourav Ganguly, who is remembered for those stunning knocks against Australia and New Zealand in the tri-nation Coca-Cola Cup series in 1998. Ganguly had a penchant to step down the track and loft spinners for some gigantic sixes and he did so with high degree of success during the Tri series tournament in Sharjah over two decades back.
Rishabh Pant had a stellar IPL last season, amazing 488 runs in 16 games, averaging 37.53 and a staggering strike rate of 162.66. In 2018, the left handed brutal assaulter was at his destructive best, smashing 684 runs at an astounding average of 52.61 and a strike 173.60, including a whirlwind knock of 128 not out.
With the IPL schedule for the 13th edition of the IPL announced by the BCCI on September 6, Delhi Capitals will get their campaign underway by taking on Kings Eleven Punjab in the second match of the tournament on September 20.
The upcoming edition of the IPL will be played in three cities in the UAE –Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Dubai gets to host 24 IPL games, 20 matches will be played in Abu Dhabi while the remaining 12 matches are to take place in Sharjah.