Ricky Ponting Laments Loss of 'Heartbeat' Rishabh Pant and the Challenge of Finding a Replacement

Delhi Capitals suffered a massive blow when their skipper and wicket-keeper batter, Rishabh Pant, was injured in a car accident in December last year. Pant was ruled out for almost 17-18 months, leaving the Capitals with two concerns – finding a suitable candidate for captaincy and getting a wicket-keeper who could also provide stability in the middle-order.

The DC franchise appointed experienced David Warner as the captain, who has led an IPL franchise before. However, the team has struggled this season, losing five out of the seven matches they have played. They will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next fixture.

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“Reasonably frustrating start for us. If you look at our performances, we have failed to put high-quality cricket of 40 overs. One day we are good with the bat but not good with the ball, the other day we have been outstanding with the ball but not so good with the bat. Which can tend to happen in the T20 cricket, it is a very fine margin between failure and success,” DC coach Ricky Ponting said during the pre-match presser.

During a pre-match press conference, DC coach Ricky Ponting admitted that replacing Pant is not an easy task and said, “What happened to Rishabh was not in our control. We miss him every day, he is the heartbeat of this team. Trying to replace Rishabh is not an easy thing to do.” The team took a “calculated gamble” on Abhishek Porel, who joined the squad just ahead of the competition.

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Ponting added that Porel is more suited to bat at the top of the order, but finding a slot for him in the playing XI is hard. “Porel was part of the group from the start and we decided after the first game that we wanted to give him a couple of opportunities,” he added.

The team also tried Sarfaraz Khan as the wicket-keeper, but Ponting said, “That didn’t really matter. We wanted to give him the opportunity to see what he could do. If he keeps working on his keeping, there’s a chance he might become the wicket-keeper batter,” Ponting noted.

IPL 2023: Purple Cap Complete List of Batters with Most Runs, Check here

DC and SRH are currently the two bottom-placed teams in the points table, with just two wins each.

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