Pant Is Confident of Playing Entire IPL, in What Capacity We're Not Quite Sure: Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting revealed that wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is ‘very confident’ of playing the whole season of IPL 2024. However, the franchise is still unsure of whether the left-hand batter will be able to lead the side and fulfill wicket-keeping responsibilities.

Melbourne: Delhi Capitals franchise head coach Ricky Ponting on Wednesday asserted that wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant is confident of playing the entire season of the Indian Premier League 2024 but it is ascertain whether he will play as a pure batter or will also handle the wicket keeping duties apart from scoring runs.

Pant has not played any kind of competitive cricket since his life-threatening car accident in December 2022 that forced him to undergo ligament reconstruction surgeries.

"Rishabh (Pant) is very confident that he's going to be right to play. In what capacity we're not quite sure yet," Ponting was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

"You would have seen all the social-media stuff, he's (Rishabh Pant) 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," he added.

"We'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that he (Rishabh Pant) 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," DC head coach elated.

In case, Pant, who captained DC in IPL, doesn't recover and get fully fit to fulfill the wicket-keeping duties, the 26-year-old can play as a pure batter or can be used as an Impact Player in the upcoming season of the cash-rich tournament, expected to begin in March.

"But I'll guarantee if I asked him now he'll say, 'I'm playing every game, I'm (wicket) keeping every game and I'm batting at No.4. That's just what he's like, but we'll keep our fingers crossed,” Ponting mentioned.

"He's such a dynamic player. He's our captain. We missed him incredibly last year. If you understand the journey he's been on for the last 12-13 months, it was a horrific incident. One that I know feels very lucky to have even survived, let alone have the chance to play cricket again," the 49-year-old cited.

Ponting has confirmed that David Warner will lead the side if Pant remains unavailable to do the job. Notably, the Delhi-based franchise finished at the penultimate position in the previous season under the captaincy of Warner.

The franchise picked up young England batter Harry Brook for ₹4 crore at the mini-auction while Ponting is happy with the bunch of players in the squad. The two-time World Cup-winning captain has also admitted that the team has performed at it's potential in the past two seasons.

"With Harry Brook coming into the set-up as well, so Warner, [Mitch] Marsh, Harry Brook, we've got some really good overseas batters. Marsh and Warner will bat up the top somewhere and Harry Brook has been finishing off with England, so he'll probably play a finishing role for us there," Ponting, who is the most successful ODI captain for Australia, said.

"(If) we can get (Anrich) Nortje and Jhye Richardson fit, and with the two spin options we've got with Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav we've got a really good squad that to be fair has probably underperformed the last couple of years, so we've got some work to do." (With agency inputs)

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