Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant who missed the previous edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) due to injury will be available for auction on December 19 in Dubai. Pant will be Capitals’ table alongside their Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly advising them about which players to go after.
Pant is likely to regain fitness in February ahead of the IPL after he gets approval from the medical team. However, there will be a big question mark over whether he will be playing the role of the wicketkeeper or not. Pant will be allowed to keep wickets only if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allows it.
Pant has been out of cricketing action since he was involved in a horrific car accident on December 30, 2023. He missed the World Test Championship (WTC) final, IPL 2023, and ODI World Cup 2023 as he is yet to recover after going under the knife.
In his absence, David Warner led the Capitals in IPL 2023 where they could not get the team combination right. Warner’s strike rate was under the scanner whereas Prithvi Shaw, and Mitchell Marsh disappointed with the bat. Phil Salt was not at his attacking best either until it was too late for them to make a comeback into the tournament.
After finishing ninth on the points table with nine losses from 14 games, DC released as many as 12 players ahead of the auction. They have to fill a maximum of 13 slots including four overseas players with Rs 28.95 crore in the purse left.
DC may eye a wicketkeeper-batter after releasing England’s Salt. Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis who scored a century in the recently concluded T20I series is likely to be on their list of players to bid for.
DC squad ahead of IPL 2024 auction
Rishabh Pant, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Khaleel Ahmed, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dhull, Vicky Ostwal, Abishek Porel, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
Players released by DC
Rilee Rossouw, Chetan Sakariya, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Phil Salt, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Priyam Garg.
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