Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant joined the Kolkata Knight Riders celebrations after the Shreyas Iyer-led side clinched the IPL 2024 title. In a video that has gone viral on social media, Pant was seen talking to Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana on video call as the cricketers celebrated the victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. Pant, who is currently in the USA with the Indian cricket team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024, congratulated the players on their victory with Rinku expressing his excitement in joining the team soon. "Bhaiya, I am coming [to US] on 28th," he said to Pant on video call.
Coming to the match, KKR bundled out SRH for just 113 with Andre Russell taking three wickets while Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana took two each. In reply, Venkatesh Iyer slammed a brilliant half-century and Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a fiery knock to make short work of the target.
"It has been pretty tough the last two years, we didn't qualify and there has been introspection and we worked on areas which needed to be worked on. [on Rana] He has been outstanding and it's about the bowler understanding what his strengths are and when he does, it comes out beautifully on the ground."
"Mitch coming into the team boosted the confidence of the other youngsters. He has been one of the best bowlers in world cricket and he has been in such situations before, it's about understanding Indian conditions and once he did that, it is magic all over. They have been outstanding, spinners mature with age, both bowling in tandem has worked exceptionally for us."
"He has brought a totally different dimension to our batting this year and it was Gautam who insisted that Sunny open and what Sunny did was outstanding," KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun said.