The head coach of the Delhi Capitals Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Ricky Ponting has said that they will miss the services of regular captain and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who suffered a near-fatal car crash late last year. He, however, did not reveal who will don the wicketkeeper’s gloves in Pant’s absence.
“In an ideal world for me, he’d be sitting next to me in the dugout,” Ponting said on the sidelines of a team event in New Delhi on Friday, before adding that they were trying to make Pant a part of the season through little ways like having his jersey number on the team’s playing shirts or on the caps.
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“He is the heart and soul of the Delhi Capitals, he is a Delhi boy, he is our leader,” Ponting said.
“I have spoken to Rishabh Pant in the last few months. Also have tried to give him his own time and space. Obviously, it’s a very, very difficult time that he is going through right now. It is going to be a long recovery, a long way back to playing, hopefully, international cricket again,” the Delhi Capitals coach added.
The Delhi Capitals coach admitted that the team management would be in a spot of bother trying to fill Pant’s shoes behind the wickets.
While sharing his plan for Capitals’ first-choice wicketkeeper in absence of Pant, Ponting said, “We haven’t decided that yet. Sarfaraz (Khan) has joined us and we’ll look at the practice games ahead to decide that. That’s one big hole Rishabh leaves behind. With the impact player rule coming in, we can use a number of ways (to find the best team combination),” Ponting said.
Australia’s David Warner, who had captained the Sunrisers Hyderabad to their maiden IPL title in 2016, will lead the side in Pant’s absence. Indian allrounder Axar Patel will act as his deputy.
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Pant has scored 2,838 IPL runs at a strike rate of 147.97 in 98 matches between 2016 and 2022. He has also claimed 64 catches and 18 stumpings. His replacement Warner has had a glittering IPL career, with 5,881 runs in 162 matches at a strike rate of 140.69 between 2009 and 2022. He has won the Orange Cap for the highest run-getter of the tournament thrice – in 2015 (562 runs), 2017 (641 runs) and 2019 (692 runs.
Delhi Capitals, who are chasing their first-ever IPL title, will start off the 2023 season with an away match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 1.
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