A bad ball has to be punished, says Rishabh Pant

New Delhi: Batting sensation Rishabh Pant has said he will not hold back from hitting the first delivery for six should an opportunity present itself.

Pant cracked a magnificent 97 off 43 balls with six boundaries and nine sixes as Delhi Daredevils chased down an imposing 209 in 17.3 overs to beat Gujarat Lions by seven wickets in their IPL match here on Thursday night.

Pant hit the very second ball he faced, bowled by Basil Thampi for six.

Asked about his aggressive beginning, Pant said he was willing to play his shots irrespective of the tenure of his innings.

“If the ball is there to be hit, I will hit it. If a bad ball is bowled, you have to punish it. Rahul Dravid told me to play my normal game without thinking too much,” the 19-year-old said after the match.

Pant was on course to get his maiden IPL hundred but fell short by only three runs. The youngster said he was thinking more about his team’s target than his personal milestone.

“I was not thinking about those three runs. I was only thinking about chasing the target as quickly as possible. It’s like had I been there to chase down the target, I would have got those three runs. And if I had got those three runs, I would have chased down the target,” he said.

He said getting promoted in the batting order enabled him to plan his innings better, as he got the opportunity to face greater number of deliveries.

“You can see that. Earlier, I was batting lower down order and coming in probably in the 15th over. Now I have full time to settle down and play my shots. The pitch was also good with ball coming onto the bat,” he added.

He came into the tournament on the back of a successful domestic season, which included a triple hundred, but he isn’t keen to compare those innings.

“I don’t rate any of my innings. I play this game for the love of it,” he replied when asked if this was his best knock at the senior level.

The Daredevils need to win all their remaining four games in order to stay in hunt for qualification to the play-offs. Pant isn’t looking to far ahead though.

“We have decided to take one match at a time. We don’t want to look too far ahead,” he said.