Who is Abishek Porel? All you need to know about Delhi Capitals' wicket-keeper batter

Abishek Porel joined Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 when he replaced Rishabh Pant in the squad.

Delhi Capitals (DC) wicket-keeper batter Abishek Porel stunned the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their opening match of IPL 2024 on March 23, 2024. The match was played at the newest IPL venue, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur.

PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan had won the toss and chose to bowl first. DC had a quick start, as openers Mitchell Marsh (20) and David Warner (29) added 39 runs in 3.2 overs. But DC then lost a bunch of wickets including captain Rishabh Pant for 18 runs.

Shai Hope made 33 on his IPL debut, but at 137/8 it looked very difficult for DC to reach the 160-170 run mark. However, DC made a tactical change, bringing in Abishek Porel as an impact player for Ricky Bhui and Porel made a huge difference.

Porel remained unbeaten on 32 in just 10 balls, hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes, including taking 25 runs in the last over of DC innings, bowled by Harshal Patel. Porel’s brilliant knock pushed DC’s final total to 174/9 in 20 overs.

Who is Abishek Porel? All you need to know about Delhi Capitals’ wicket-keeper batter

The 21-year-old Bengal wicket-keeper batter Abishek Porel was brought in by DC in IPL 2023 as replacement for Rishabh Pant, who was out of action due to his car accident. Porel was born on 17 October 2002 in Chandannagar in Bengal. Abishek Porel’s father’s name is Chandranath Porel. He is a farmer and loves to play Kabaddi.

Porel has so far played 23 First Class (FC) cricket matches, 11 List A games, and 14 T20s for Bengal. In T20s, he made 294 runs with the best of 73* at a strike rate of 140. He was also part of the 2022 U19 Indian team.

Abishek is the cousin of India’s 2018 U19 World Cup-winning pacer Ishan Porel. An aggressive batter with a knack of hitting boundaries, Abishek impressed the important men, including Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, at Delhi Capitals to graduate from the nets and make it to the squad.

He then made his DC debut in IPL 2023 against Gujarat Titans on April 4.

“I just got to know three overs before. But I was ready as the support staff told me to be ready as an Impact Player, so I was quite prepared for batting at any time. My thought was to implement what I was doing at the practice. I wanted to pick the ball and hit, wherever it was. I was prepared to hit of slower bouncer or pace, and I was ready to hit wherever the ball was,” Porel said at the mid-innings interview after his swashbuckling innings against PBKS on 23rd March, 2024.

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