Rishabh Pant is missing Delhi Capitals' crucial clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, May 12. DC and RCB are facing each other in a crucial clash with stakes pretty high in the race for the playoffs.
However, Pant was not part of the team and in his place, Axar Patel is leading the franchise. Here is why Pant is not playing.
Notably, Pant has been handed a fine and a one-match suspension for his team's slow-over rate for the third time in the ongoing Indian Premier League. He was handed a fine of 30% of his match fees and also given a suspension for the breach of the Code of Conduct in their clash against Rajasthan Royals on May 7.
"Mr Rishabh Pant, Captain, Delhi Capitals has been fined has been fined and suspended for one match for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct after his team maintained a slow over-rate during Match 56 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 against Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on May 07, 2024," the IPL governing council said in a statement.
"As it was his team’s third offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Rishabh Pant was fined INR 30 Lac and suspended for one match. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 12 Lac or 50 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser," the body added.
Notably, Axar Patel is leading an IPL side for the first time. He won the toss in his first assignement as captain and DC opted to bowl first. Axar said at the toss that Rishabh was not happy with his suspension and the team even appealed for it. "(We) will bowl first. Bangalore wicket is always good. It's a chasing ground. When we start well, we dominate the game. Rishabh was angry, and had appealed as well against the suspension. He's at the ground here, motivating the team. Kushagra comes in for Rishabh. Rasikh Dhar is in," Axar said at the time of toss.
While DC have made a couple of changes, RCB are going with the same team. "Little bit less grass than earlier games. Hopefully it's a good wicket. We look forward to every game now - we're playing some good cricket. Have to start again. We have got more of that confidence in the dressing room. Same team for us," Faf said at the toss time.
Playing XIs:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal
Delhi Capitals: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel(w), Shai Hope, Kumar Kushagra, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Kuldeep Yadav, Rasikh Dar Salam, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
Delhi Capitals Impact Sub options: David Warner, Sumit Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Vicky Ostwal, Pravin Dubey
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Sub options: Swapnil Singh, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Himanshu Sharma
