Captain Rishabh Pant is hopeful about a full-fledged comeback to cricket in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), according to Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting. According to recent updates Rishabh Pant has posted on his social media accounts, the wicket-keeper batsman, who has been sidelined since the tragic car accident in December 2022, is almost back to full fitness.
Pant has not played since his car accident in December 2022 when he thought his “time in this world was over.” Under David Warner’s captaincy, DC finished ninth in the points table during Pant’s absence from the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). The team struggled from the start of the season, beginning the season with five straight losses and missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.
He’s very confident that he’s going to be right to play – Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant
Ponting, who was just named head coach of the Washington Freedom of Major League Cricket (MLC), is tentatively positive about Pant’s return to the squad.
Although Rishabh Pant is “very confident” he will be fit to play the entire IPL, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting is doubtful if he will be able to captain the team or keep wicket because he is still recovering from serious injuries he incurred in a vehicle accident.
“Rishabh is very confident that he’s going to be right to play. In what capacity we’re not quite sure yet. You would have seen all the social-media stuff, he’s up and about and running well. But in saying that we’re only six weeks away from the first game as well. So we’re not sure if we’ll get wicketkeeping out of him this year,” said Ricky Ponting.
Ponting went on to say that instead of easing back into the game after an extended absence, he anticipates Rishabh Pant to be adamant about playing every role for the team.
“But I’ll guarantee if I asked him now he’ll say, ‘I’m playing every game, I’m keeping every game and I’m batting at No.4.’ That’s just what he’s like, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed. He’s such a dynamic player. He’s obviously our captain. We missed him incredibly last year,” he added.
We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that he can be out there and play- Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant’s Return
At the 2024 IPL mini-auction in Dubai on December 19, Rishabh Pant and Ricky Ponting made their mark. Since then, he has been putting in a lot of effort at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to get back into the game.
Though he acknowledges that Rishabh Pant’s availability for some, if not all, of the team’s games is a significant win, the DC head coach hopes for the best.
“We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that he can be out there and play. Even if it’s not all the games, if we can manage him through 10 of the 14 games or whatever that might be then whatever games you can get out of him will be a bonus,” Ricky Ponting stated.
David Warner, an experienced player, may be selected to head the team again if Rishabh Pant is unable to play in all capacities, including wicket-keeping and captaincy.
DC had trouble with the bat even with a batting lineup that was reasonably strong and included international stars like Mitchell Marsh and David Warner. The team’s situation was further exacerbated by Prithvi Shaw’s poor performance and Rishabh Pant’s absence.
We’re not really sure exactly what sort of wicket we’re going to get-Ponting emphasized the slow surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium
In addition to bringing up the slow pace track at Arun Jaitley Stadium during his commentary responsibilities during the just finished 2023–24 Big Bash League (BBL) season, Ponting shed light on the batting issues that need to be rectified.
“We’ve got some challenges with our home venue to be honest. We rock up every game, we’re not really sure exactly what sort of wicket we’re going to get. So you’d go to the auction expecting you’re going to get one type of surface and you rock up for five games, seven games there and you get five different pitches so that does make it hard. But we definitely lacked on batting quality last year, which is what we’ve tried to really improve on this year,” he concluded
DC has made a number of changes to its batting lineup, including the addition of Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kushagra, Shai Hope, and the removal of Phil Salt and Rovman Powell.