Cricket News

‘I want him around the whole time’ – Ricky Ponting wants Rishabh Pant to be with Delhi during Indian T20 League 2023

Former Australia skipper and Delhi franchise coach, Ricky Ponting heaped praise on Rishabh Pant who is slowly recuperating after the near-fatal car crash that happened on December 30, 2022. Pant has made all the right steps on his road to recovery and is expected to get back on the cricket pitch. It is not known when Pant would return to the cricket field. But it looks like his presence in the Indian T20 League might happen sooner rather than expected.

Pant will however not be fit to play for Delhi in the Indian T20 League and the franchise is looking for possible replacements. With Pant gone, Delhi needs a captaincy option and also a wicketkeeper. Pant did this with no sweat when he led the Delhi franchise. “I absolutely love the bloke, I told him that on the phone the last couple of days,” Ponting had said on the Cricket Governing Body review show.

You can’t replace guys like Pant: Ricky Ponting

“It was a horrifying time, a really scary time for everybody, let alone him. Anyone that knows him loves him – he’s a really infectious young guy that has the world at his feet still. “So we will keep our fingers crossed and hope that he can get back to playing sooner rather than later,” Ponting added.

“You can’t replace those guys, simple as that,” Ponting stated. “They don’t grow on trees, players like that. We’ve got to look at – and we already are – a replacement to come into the squad, a wicketkeeper-batsman.” “I want him sitting beside me in the dugout every day of the week,” former Australia captain opined on Pant.

“If he’s actually not physically fit enough to play, we’d still love to have him around,” “He’s the sort of cultural leader around the group, being the captain, and that attitude and infectious smile and laugh he has is what we all love so much about him.

“If he’s actually able to travel and be around the team, then I want him sitting beside me in the dugout every day of the week. “I’ll certainly be making sure, come the middle of March when we get together in Delhi and start our camps and stuff, if he’s able to be there, then I want him around the whole time.”