New Delhi: India’s aggressive wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has been cleared by the National Cricket Academy. If Rishabh Pant is fully fit, he should lead the Delhi Capitals, head coach Ricky Ponting has said.
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting explained his strategy for Rishabh Pant’s comeback in the IPL cricket tournament. Rishabh Pant was seriously injured in a car accident in December 2022. Rishabh Pant was away from cricket after that. Now Rishabh Pant is ready for the IPL tournament. Rishabh Pant participated in the practice session at the National Cricket Academy and confirmed that he is fully fit.
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting while talking to Sanjana Ganesan expressed his expectation that Rishabh Pant should lead the team from the start of the tournament if he is fully fit.
Ricky Ponting said, ‘It’s a big decision we have to make. Because if Pant is fit, he will be straight back into the captaincy role. If he is not fully fit and we want to use him in a slightly different role, we have to make some decisions.’
Ponting said that Pant has worked very hard to make a comeback in terms of cricket. He has played some practice matches in the last two weeks and that is really encouraging for us. He has fielded in practice matches. Batting doesn’t seem to be a problem for him so far.’
“We were obviously concerned and worried. Pant might not be ready for IPL this year. The team lost a lot last year without Pant. We can’t even begin to describe what he was like in the last 12-14 months. Panting is getting ready to hit the cricket field again after several tough months of recovery and the world is talking about him, Ponting said.
“As the coach of Delhi Capitals, I want to see him play cricket again and I am very optimistic,” said Ricky Ponting. Rishabh Pant is a player of natural talent. It won’t take long for him to adjust. I don’t think he’ll be intimidated by the comeback. “I would tell Pant to play his usual game and I think if he does that he will be back in form very quickly,” Ponting said.
First match on 23 March
The 17th season of Indian Premier League is starting from March 22. The opening match of the season between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be played in Chennai. Delhi Capitals’ first match will be against Punjab Kings on March 23.
Rishabh’s IPL career
26-year-old star wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant made his IPL debut in 2016. Since then he has played 98 IPL matches. Pant has scored 2838 runs while batting at a strike rate of 148. Pant has 1 century and 15 fifties in IPL.
Rishabh Pant’s International Career
Rishabh Pant has so far played 33 Tests, 30 ODIs and 66 T20 matches for the Indian cricket team. He has scored 2271 runs at an average of 43 in Tests. Scored 865 runs at an average of 34 in ODIs. While in T20, Pant has scored 987 runs at a strike rate of 126.
