Rishabh Pant Smashes Trademark One-Handed Six During Practice in Bengaluru Before IPL 2024 | WATCH

The latest edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is slated to begin a little over two weeks from now, on March 22 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The season will be kicking off with a match between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and their southern rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore. While fans are excited for IPL 2024 to take centre stage, many have been wondering about the availability of Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant, who has been out of action due to injury since the turn of 2023.

Rishabh Pant is currently in Bengaluru and has been focusing on his recuperation for IPL 2024. The Roorkee-born wicketkeeper batsman has returned to the field and is getting into his groove. Currently undergoing his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, Pant will be receiving his NCA clearance on Tuesday, March 5.

On Monday, Rishabh Pant was present at one of the grounds and was playing a practice match, where he hit one of his trademark one-handed sixes. This time, he attempted a one-handed swipe, a slog sweep that produced a crisp sound to indicate a sweet connection between bat and ball.

Rishabh Pant injured himself in a near-fatal car accident on December 30, 2022, during the early hours of the night. The 26-year-old was travelling from Delhi to Roorkee to visit his parents, but reportedly fell asleep on the wheel.

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Ever since, the southpaw has been on a strenuous recovery path and has kept fans updated by posting videos on social media, during different phases of his rehab. Since last month, Rishabh Pant has been present in Bengaluru, where he is under the supervision of the NCA. He played a practice game in Alur.

Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting, while speaking at a press conference during his unveiling as the coach of Washington Freedom in USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC), confirmed that Rishabh Pant will continue to captain DC in IPL 2024. “Rishabh is very confident that he’s going to be right to play,” Ponting said. “In what capacity we’re not quite sure yet. You would have seen all the social-media stuff, he’s 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.”

Last week, Sourav Ganguly, who serves as the Director of Cricket for Delhi Capitals, suggested that Rishabh Pant will join the DC camp once he gets the clearance from NCA. “He has done everything to get fit and that’s the reason the NCA will clear him,” Sourav Ganguly informed The Times of India. “Let Rishabh get cleared on March 5, only then we’ll talk about captaincy backups. We are taking a cautious approach with him because he has a very long career ahead of him. We don’t want to push him in excitement. We will see how Rishabh reacts. He will be joining the camp once NCA gives him the clearance. We will see match by match. We can’t predict.”

When asked who will take on wicketkeeping duties should Rishabh Pant be unfit to play as the wicketkeeper, Sourav Ganguly added: “As for wicketkeeping options, there’s Kumar Kushagra. Ricky Bhui has had a very good season. There is Shai Hope and Tristan Stubbs. Rishabh coming back fit is a huge addition for us. We hope he plays the full season because he is a very special player. We have worked on some domestic players who have done well in all formats, but Rishabh is very important.”

Delhi Capitals will be playing five games in the first phase of IPL 2024. The BCCI released the schedule only for the first 17 days (March 22 to April 7) due to the clash with the dates of the General Elections. The Capitals will take on Punjab Kings away from home in their first game of the season, scheduled to be played on March 23.