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 but he wasn’t fit as a result he was ruled out.
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 had a life threatening accident on 30th December 2022 which was so severe that he underwent multiple surgeries and was out of the action for almost 2 years.
I am surprised that Rishabh Pant is keeping- Tom Moody
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody expressed that he didn’t expect Delhi Capitals(DC) skipper Rishabh Pant to keep wickets in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (2024). Rishabh Pant made his cricketing return in IPL 2024following a lengthy injury layoff after being involved in a horrific car crash in December 2022. The gifted youngster was cleared to play as a keeper-batter by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the ongoing edition.
Tom Moody recently stated that he expected Rishabh Pant to play as a pure batter atleast for the first half of the season. Speaking to Espn Cricinfo he said :
“I’m surprised he is keeping. If you’d asked me a month ago, I’d have thought he’d certainly start the first half of the IPL as a batter and the impact sub.”
Rishabh Pant is yet to find his mojo back and has looked like a pale version of his former self in his first two appearances this season. He registered scores of 18 (13) and 28 (26) against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), respectively. During the discussion, former India opener Wasim Jaffer pointed out how Pant has looked rusty with the bat in IPL 2024. Assessing the southpaw’s performances, he said:
“Not as fluent. I thought they bowled good lines to him, away from his body. He’s not known to hit a lot on the off side. That’s not his strength. He likes to go cow corner to mid-wicket. I thought they planned really well and executed those. He still looks a little bit rusty at the moment.”
The Rishabh Pant-led side have kicked-off IPL 2024 with back-to-back losses and are currently eighth in the points table and hope that they get amongst the points as early as possible before loosing momentum.