Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting wants his franchise skipper Rishabh Pant beside him in the dugout, even if he is not physically fit to play the game. “I want him sitting beside me in the dugout every day of the week,” Ponting said on The ICC Review Show.
“If he’s actually not physically fit enough to play, we’d still love to have him around,” he said. “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.”
The former Australian captain revealed he had been in contact with Pant during his recovery process.
“I absolutely love the bloke, I told him that on the phone the last couple of days. 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.”
Ponting added that players like Pant were not easy to come by and that one needed to look after their likes.
“You can’t replace those guys, simple as that. 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.”
Pant was involved in a fiery car crash last month whilst travelling alone to his hometown in the Roorkee district of the north Indian state of Uttarakhand.
The 25-year-old is currently receiving treatment at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and will remain there until he fully recovers. He is expected to be out of cricketing action for the next year and a half, according to various reports.
Delhi Capitals Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly has already informed that the left-hander will be missing the upcoming season of IPL.
“It will take time to heal. We cannot do anything. It’s an accident. He is just 23. He has got a lot of time. Rishabh Pant will not be available for the IPL. I am in connection with DC. It will be a great IPL. We will do well. Pant’s injury will affect DC.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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