Captain of Delhi Capitals Rishabh Pant is about to make his eagerly awaited return to competitive cricket in the 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the southpaw is not leaving a single stone unturned in ensuring that he makes his comeback like fish to water.
Pant has joined Capitals' training camp at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam and was seen smashing them over the ropes while batting in a practice session.
In a video that has taken the internet by storm, Pant can be seen connecting throwdowns by the middle of his bat.
Pant has worked hard on his body to regain the kind of fitness required for playing a game. The 26-year-old is one of the most experienced players in the Delhi Capitals line-up alongside David Warner and Mitchell Marsh among others and his presence is expected to add more strength to the team.
The wicketkeeper-batter has played 98 IPL games and averages almost 35 with the willow in hand. Pant is 162 runs shy of completing 3000 runs in the lucrative tournament. He has already smashed one century and 15 fifties in the premier Indian domestic T20 competition.
Notably, Capitals endured a forgettable IPL 2023 season. They finished second from the bottom with just five wins and nine losses. The team relied heavily upon its Indian opener Prithvi Shaw and overseas power-striker Rilee Rossouw, however, neither Shaw nor Rossouw managed to repay the trust of the team management.
Delhi Capitals' squad for IPL 2024:
Rishabh Pant (c), Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Lungi Ngidi, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Swastik Chhikara.
