Rishabh Pant will start IPL 2024 as Delhi Capitals’ captain but will not keep wicket in the first half of the season, franchise co-owner Parth Jindal has said. In a chat with ESPNCricinfo, Jindal also said Capitals were expecting South Africa fast bowler Anrich Nortje to be fit to play from their opening game, against Punjab Kings on March 23.
Jindal said the Capitals think-tank, led by the team director Sourav Ganguly and head coach Ricky Ponting, was confident about Rishabh Pant starting the IPL, subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI which is imminent.
Rishabh Pant’s tryst with destiny.
In cricket some destinies are destined , Hardly anyone knew that the hero of the famous Gabba win and the swashbuckling middle order wicket keeper batter in Tests Rishabh Pant would meet the fate of destiny to halt his cricketing journey for a brief period of time. The Indian team who had the torrid time in ICC events in 2023 and by year end a horrified test match vs South Africa had surely remembered and missed Rishabh Pant.
As fate could have it on the morning of December 30 2022, Rishabh Pant on his way back home met with a fateful accident and had a lucky escape. However this accident indeed turned out to be fateful for the Indian Cricket Team over the next year 2023 as Indian selection committee was caught in dilemma to replace a player like caliber of Pant who with his pyrotechnics with the bat could swing the game anytime in team’s favour especially in red ball cricket.
Rishabh Pant through his flamboyance in the tour down under 2021-22 and the English tour months later had already made a mark in the mind of former cricketers and India seemed to have found an able hitter at No 6 who could now be compared to likes of Adam Gilchrist of Australia changing the facet of how test cricket could be played.
Pant (26) had a lucky escape after he was severely injured in a car accident that took place on the morning of December 30, 2022. The stumper’s car collided with a divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway.
Rishabh Pant’s recovery and return to cricket post accident.
The IPL will mark Rishabh Pant’s return to competitive cricket since the Test series in Bangladesh in December 2022. After his horrific car crash on December 30, 2022, Pant has worked hard to make a remarkable recovery post successful surgeries to three major knee ligaments in his right leg. Having told his doctors that he would shave at least six months off their prescribed time of recovery, Pant played practice matches in Bengaluru this week, which were organized by the National Cricket Academy.
On Tuesday, Rishabh Pant also posted a video on his Instagram doing some wicketkeeping and mobility drills, which have become part of his lower-body conditioning over the past six weeks. On Wednesday, he batted and fielded in a 20-over match, which comprised a series of match-simulation exercises.
The game was overseen by the BCCI medical staff. There were no visible concerns. Pant is expected to play at least a few more such games before joining Capitals. Once the BCCI clearance comes, he will join the side for a preparatory camp in Visakhapatnam, where the team will also play two home matches.
With the second half of WPL 2024 – comprising 11 games including the playoffs – set to be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the Capitals men’s team had to shift their home base for the early part of the IPL to ensure they didn’t start on tried pitches. In the 21-match IPL schedule released on Thursday, Capitals are scheduled to play two home and three away matches. Jindal confirmed the team would return to Delhi for their remaining five home games.
In Pant’s absence, David Warner captained Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 edition. The former attended the mini-auction in Dubai earlier in December , but there are conflicting reports about his availability for IPL 2024. Former Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Delhi Capitals franchise not to rush Rishabh Pant sans full fitness in IPL 2024.
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar urges Delhi Capitals not to rush sensational batter Rishabh Pant into IPL 2024
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has backed Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) on their decision not to rush Rishabh Pant. The comments came amid reports Pant will be free from wicketkeeping duties for the first few games in the upcoming edition of the tournament. Gavaskar believes that Pant should only be reinstated as skipper once he gains full fitness.
For the unversed, David Warner led DC in the absence of Pant last season, where they finished ninth in the points table with six wins in 14 games.
During a Star Sports event while interacting with students of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ranchi, Sunil Gavaskar was quoted by the Times of India:
“He certainly has the ability to think on his feet. If he gets back to full fitness, the reins of (Delhi Capitals) captaincy should be handed over to him.
“Let’s stay hopeful. This season is first of him coming back to full fitness. Let’s not rush him into doing something that there will be a setback.”
The 74-year-old further pointed out the significance of the knee for both batting and wicketkeeping, saying:
“Knee plays a pivotal role in batting as well as keeping — which, of course, he may not do initially. Maybe he won’t be the usual Rishabh Pant that we are used to seeing.”
Sunil Gavaskar stresses on importance of match-fitness for Rishabh Pant
Sunil Gavaskar further said that it would be a tough phase for Rishabh Pant to return to his best. The cricketer-turned-commentator, meanwhile, credited the wicketkeeper-batter for beginning training for the cash-rich league:
“I’m also a big fan of him. For me, the most important thing is that he should be healthy like before, so that he can come and entertain us. It will be very difficult for him and it will take some time for him to get that batting fluency. But good that he has started training.”
Pant last played for India against Bangladesh in a Test match in December 2022 before his car accident on December 30.On the IPL front, Pant has amassed 2838 runs in 98 matches at a strike rate of 147 since joining DC in 2016. In addition to it Pant has so far played 33 Tests, 30 ODIs and 66 T20Is, scoring 2271, 865 and 987 runs respectively.
With Rishabh Pant on his way for speedy recovery, The Indian Cricket team and well wishers will only wish for this left hander swashbuckling batter to make his comeback in International circuit and churn lot of runs across format for India guiding team to victories in forthcoming years.