The Delhi crowd will not be able to witness their captain Rishabh Pant’s homecoming at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Delhi Capitals (DC) are set to play their first two home games 1,787 km away from home in Visakhapatnam.
“Having chosen to play their first two home matches in Visakhapatnam, the Delhi Capitals will first host the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, 31st March in the port city and will then face the Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue on Wednesday, 3rd April,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.
The reason behind DC's first two home games shifted out of Delhi is the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024. The groundsmen will need time to prepare the pitch for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after the WPL 2024 final on March 17.
“The reason is WPL. We will be hosting a total of 11 matches in two weeks and with IPL starting from March 22 the first IPL match in Delhi was supposed to take place on March 24, so we don’t have enough time to prepare pitches. The BCCI has agreed to shift the first two matches and has also given us some breathing space,” a DDCA official told The Indian Express.
Pant set to return
DC captain Pant is expected to return to competitive cricket after surviving a horrific accident on December 30, 2022. He played a practice match in Alur, Bengaluru. In a video, he was seen stepping out to a spinner to hit the ball for a six.
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Earlier, DC head coach Ricky Ponting had said that Pant will play as a batter and not a wicketkeeper-batter. However, Pant has been doing wicketkeeping drills as well.
Pant’s possible comeback
If Pant is cleared to play by the physio at National Cricket Academy (NCA), he will mark his return to the field against Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) on March 23 in Mohali. DC have a total of five matches in the initial scheduled announcement for 17 days. After facing PBKS, they will head to Jaipur to take on Rajasthan Royals (RR).
The home games in Vizag will be played against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 31 and April 3 respectively. Their fifth clash will be against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium on April 7.
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