Rishabh Pant created history in IPL on this day in 2018 as he smashed an unbeaten 128

On this day in 2018, Indian batsman Rishabh Pant impressed the cricketing fraternity with his amazing 128-run inning against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pant, who was playing for erstwhile Delhi Daredevils, now known as Delhi Capitals, amassed a whopping 128 runs off just 63 balls to make the then highest individual score by an Indian in the IPL. The then 20-year-old hit 15 boundaries and 7 maximums to register an unbeaten 128. the young wicketkeeper-batsman had reached his century off just 56 balls.

Pant makes history

After winning the toss at home ground Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi's newly-appointed captain Shreyas Iyer has elected to bat first. Delhi lost opener Prithvi Shaw and Jason Roy early on in the innings and then Shreyas Iyer had to go back to the pavilion after confusion with Pant resulted in him being run-out. Pant also contributed to all-rounder Harshal Patel's run-out after a couple of overs. However, the mistakes didn't deter Pant from scoring his maiden IPL ton as the youngster continued to bat and reached the milestone in the 19th over. Pant had then made the second-highest individual score in the IPL after Brendon McCullum's 158 in the first-ever game of the tournament 10 years ago. 

Pant hit the experienced Sunrisers bowlers all around the park. Pant smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a whopping 26 runs in the last over, which included three consecutive sixes in the last three balls of the innings. Pant scored nearly 70% of the total runs scored by his side on the day and 138 of those runs had come in the last 10 overs of the match. However, Pant's destructive innings couldn't provide Delhi a chance against table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad as the Men in Blue lost the game by 9 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan scored a masterful 92 runs off 50 balls, while his partner at the other skipper Kane Williamson scored 83 off 53 balls. 

Rishabh Pant went to become the captain of his side in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who was ruled out of IPL 2021 due to a shoulder injury. Pant lead Delhi to the top of the points table with six wins in eight games that the franchise played this season before the postponement of the cash-rich league due to COVID-19. 

(Image Credit: PTI)