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'He can come and fix those puzzles': Ex-India star suggests Rishabh Pant's replacement for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023
Team India's star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant met with a horrific car accident last month, and is currently being treated for injuries in Mumbai.
Last month, Team India's star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant met with a horrific car accident that resulted in multiple injuries to his head, back, and leg. Pant is stable and currently being treated in Mumbai after he was initially admitted to a private hospital in Dehradun. The injuries mean Pant could be out of cricketing action for a long time and earlier this week, former India captain Sourav Ganguly – who is reported to have been appointed as Delhi Capitals' Director of Cricket – provided an update on Pant's availability for the franchise in 2023 Indian Premier League.
"Rishabh Pant will not be available for the IPL," Ganguly was quoted as saying by Sports Today. The absence of the wicketkeeper-batter, who is also the captain of the Capitals, comes as a big blow to the franchise but former India bowler Pragyan Ojha said that Phil Salt, who was recently bought by the DC for INR 2 crore in the IPL auction, could replace Pant.
Following Salt's strong performance for DC's sister franchise Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 tournament, Ojha, on Match Centre Live show on JioCinema and Sports18 said, “The most important thing is when you talk about their sister franchise (DC) the situation that they are in they would need someone like Salt to keep and deliver the way he’s delivered here. And I think all these think tanks will be looking at him as a resource where he can come in and fix those puzzles which they have a small gap."
Salt has represented England in 11 ODIs and 13 T20Is so far, and in his first match at the SA20, smashed an unbeaten 77 off 47 deliveries as he opened the innings. The Capitals eventually won the match by 23 runs against Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje, who is also a part of DC, is representing the Pretoria Capitals as well. He registered impressive figures of 2/18 in four overs and Ojha lauded the speedster for his strong outing.
“He's been bowling quick and if you see the way he's been bowling attacking those stumps, he's trying to be disciplined and see the way he was mixing up the pace. He bowled those knuckle deliveries. When you are bowling at 150 and then suddenly coming back to 120-125 that difference really troubles you. And Nortje has been there, he's been doing that in and out and he knows with those scores on the board it gives you that much cushion to even experiment more and more bowled,” Ojha said.
Paarl Royals will lock horns with Joburg Super Kings at 5:00 pm and MI Cape Town will play Durban’s Super Giants tonight at 9:00 pm, live on JioCinema, Sports18 – 1, Sports18 Khel and Colors Tamil.
