The Asian Age

Chennai Super Kings shine in IPL opener

PANT SCARED OF KOHLI’S ANGER

- C. SANTOSH KUMAR

Chennai Super Kings captain M. S. Dhoni’s wife Sakshi cheers during the inaugural match between CSK and Royal Challenger­s Bangalore in Chennai on Saturday. —

KPTI nown for his swashbuckl­ing batting style, wicketkeep­erbatsman Rishabh Pant says the one thing that scares him is the anger of India skipper Virat Kohli.

“I am not scared of anyone but Virat bhaiya ke gusse se dar lagta hai (I’m scared of Virat Kohli’s anger),” Pant said in a video posted by his IPL team, Delhi Capitals in their official website.

“But if you are doing everything correctly, then why he (Kohli) should get angry. But if you make a mistake and someone gets angry with you... it’s good because you only learn from your mistakes,” he added.

Pant has played some dashing knocks in all three formats of the game and is set to replace Mahendra Singh Dhoni once he retires.

However, his wicket keeping skills have sometimes left skipper Kohli disappoint­ed. — PTI It was billed a blockbuste­r. The clash of southern rivals led by superstar captains also had other potential subplots. But all those pre-match excitement fell flat on a turning wicket as Chennai Super Kings thrashed Royal Challenger­s Bangalore by seven wickets in the IPL-12 opener here at the M.A. Chidambara­m Stadium on Saturday.

On match eve, Kohli had conceded that his team were underdogs at CSK’s fortress but the India skipper wouldn’t have expected the contest to be one-way traffic all the way.

RCB’s total — 70 all out in 17.1 overs — was the sixth lowest in the IPL history and it didn’t require much effort from Super Kings to overhaul. Chennai completed the

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? << CSK bowler Imran Tahir celebrates a Royal Challenger­s Bangalore wicket on Saturday. —
<< CSK bowler Imran Tahir celebrates a Royal Challenger­s Bangalore wicket on Saturday. —
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India