Pant Shows Olympic Legend Michael Phelps How to Swing a Bat

On a two-day visit to India, legendary swimmer Michael Phelps had his first brush with cricket in Delhi.

Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant shows Michael Phelps how to swing a bat.

(Photo Courtesy: Delhi Capitals)

He has competed in a record five Olympic Games, won more Olympic medals than any athlete, and holds more records than any other swimmer in the world – but when Michael Phelps landed in India during the Indian Premier League, he wasn’t going to leave without an initiation into cricket.

The 28-time Olympic medal winner – who was in the national capital for the launch of Under Armour – attended Delhi Capitals’ Indian Premier League match against the Chennai Super Kings at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Tuesday, 26 March.

Michael Phelps at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.(Photo: BCCI)

Michael Phelps during Delhi Capitals’ IPL 2019 match against CSK at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.(Photo: BCCI)

“This was my first time. The first (cricket) match I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been around sports, I love sports –every kind of sports. And being able to see a sport that is played and watched by so many millions of people, was an experience of trying to learn a new game. It was like a mixture between baseball and basketball in the way that they work together as a team and the strategy of it all. It was pretty neat to be able to dive into the sport.”

Michael Phelps

Rishabh Pant with the most successful Olympian Michael Phelps.(Photo Courtesy: Delhi Capitals)

Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant shows Michael Phelps how to swing a bat.(Photo Courtesy: Delhi Capitals)

The following day, Phelps met the Delhi Capitals squad in the national capital where Rishabh Pant showed the 33-year-old American – who retired from competitive swimming after the 2016 Rio Olympics – how to swing a bat.

“Being able to hit a couple of tennis balls with the bat was fun and it’s very similar to a baseball swing and a golf swing. So it was just neat being able to play a sport  that I’ve never played before,” said Phelps.

(Photo Courtesy: Delhi Capitals)