Delhi Capitals star skipper Rishabh Pant has been handed a one-match suspension and a fine for his team's yet another slow-over rate offence in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Pant has been handed a fine of Rs. 30 lakh and a game suspension for DC's slow-over rate against Rajasthan Royals on May 7.
This means that Pant will be out of the Capitals' crucial clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, May 12 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The Capitals are still in the hunt for a place in the playoffs but need two wins in as many games to stand a realistic chance for a top-four finish.
Meanwhile, Pant has been instrumental with the bat for the Capitals. He is by far the highest run-scorer for DC with 413 runs in 12 matches. According to the IPL website, there is no designated vice-captain for DC in IPL 2024. Now the question arises who can replace him as the skipper of the team for this game?
Players who can be DC's stand-in captain for clash vs RCB
1 - Axar Patel: Star all-rounder Axar Patel can be trusted to lead the Capitals for the clash vs RCB. Even though he has never captained an IPL team, he is one of the key performers for DC this season and in the previous one too. Axar has scored 164 runs with a fifty and has also batted in the top four a couple of times.
2 - David Warner: Aussie star Warner should be the automatic choice to lead the side in Pant's absence, given that he was the skipper last year too. But Warner is currently on the sidelines due to a hand injury which has seen him missing out on most of the previous games. DC assistant coach Pravin Amre had stated a couple of weeks ago after the team's clash against Mumbai Indians that Warner would need one more week to get fit. He believed that Warner and Ishant Sharma would be available when DC return home for the match against LSG on May 14. But they will face RCB in Bengaluru for now.
3 - Shai Hope: West Indies wicket-keeper batter Shai Hope can also be considered an option to lead DC for the game against RCB. While Hope has not led any team in IPL or in T20Is before, he is West Indies' captain in ODIs. Hope has also played in seven out of 12 matches for the Capitals this season, showing that the team has trust in him to be included as a foreign player in a limit of four overseas cricketers in a game.
