Delhi Capitals (DC) will miss the presence of their superstar player Rishabh Pant in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 which is slated to commence from March 31 (Friday). A horrific car accident In the early hours of December 30, 2022 left Pant on the sidelines of cricket as he continues to recover from it, hence, won't be able to feature in the sixteenth edition of the glitzy league. In Pant's absence, David Warner has taken up the captaincy mantle and thus will be seen leading DC in IPL 2023.
DC will open their IPL 2023 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants on April 1 (Saturday). Meanwhile right ahead of the IPL opener on March 31, Pant in a promotional video which left the DC fans wondering about his comeback. A Zomato ad which features Pant is doing rounds of internet. In the promotional vieo Pant said that if everyone is playing, why not him.
"Cricket and food. Two things I can't live without. I haven't been able to play cricket in the last few months. But the doctor did tell me to eat properly. So I had lots of healthy food at home...the cricket season was starting soon. That's when I felt that if everyone is playing, why not me? I am still in the game boss! I am coming to play," Pant said in a video.
Here's the video…
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that DC are likely to draft Bengal's young wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel in their squad as Pant's replacement.
The 20-year-old Porel, who has played 3 T20s for the state and 16 first-class matches, was called to the DC's pre-season camp at the Jadavpur University campus in Kolkata and impressed the coaches which resulted in the summoning. More recently, he also excelled in a practice match, which also acted as a trial, and might prove to be an unknown commodity at the top of the order for the Capitals.
Meanwhile a few days back, DC's coach Ricky Ponting had said that Pant is the heart and soul of the franchise and revealed that the team management is considering wearing his jersey number on their shirts or caps.
"In an ideal world for me, he’d be sitting next to me in the dugout every match. But if that’s not possible, we’d like to make him part of the team in ways possible. We can have his number on our shirts or on caps. Just to make it clear that he’s our leader, even if he’s not with us,” 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,” former Australia skipper had said.
Delhi Capitals Full Squad:
Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Pravin Dubey, Lungi Ngidi, Vicky Ostwal, Aman Khan, Phil Salt, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rilee Rossouw.
ALSO READ:
BAN vs IRE: Shakib Al Hasan's wizardry, Litton Das' blitz help Bangladesh clinch record victory over Ireland
WWE WrestleMania 39 : John Cena, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar to headline WWE's biggest extravaganza; know match card, date, venue, live streaming here
