‘Rishabh Pant is an instinctive captain’: Sourav Ganguly backs DC star to get better with time

Delhi Capitals (DC) director of cricket Sourav Ganguly has labelled Rishabh Pant as an 'instinctive captain' after DC ended their league games with a 19-run win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in match 64 of IPL 2024 on Tuesday (May 14). Under Pant, DC ended their league games with 7 wins and equal number of losses. They have a very slim chance, mathematically, of qualifying for the playoffs.

Reflecting on Pant's captaincy -- who has impressed at times but also made mistakes from time to time this season -- Ganguly told Jio Cinema, "Pant is a young captain, he'll learn with time. The way he returned from injury to play a full season; we had our doubts during the off-season."

"Indian players are crucial, especially since the TATA IPL shifted to 10 teams. I am very happy for him that he returned to play so well over a full season. He has all my well-wishes for whatever is next," Gangulyopined.

He further opined, "With time, he'll become a better captain. Nobody is a great captain from day one, but he is an instinctual captain, he makes decisions on the ground. With more time, he'll get better."

Pant returned to competitive cricket after 1.5 years during this IPL season. In 14 games, he ended with 446 runs -- ninth-most -- at a strike-rate of 155.40 along with three fifties. As a result, he got selected in India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad.

DC had a topsy-turvy ride in the league stage but saw plenty of new match-winners emerge such as Jack Fraser-McGurk, Abhishek Porel, Rasikh Dar Salam, Triston Stubbs, Mukesh Kumar, etc.

On pacer Rasikh, former Indian skipper Ganguly said, "You've seen Rasikh's development over time. The more matches he played, the better he got. It's not easy to bowl on the Delhi wicket. This wicket is great, and the ground isn't that big, so I think for any bowler, it isn't easy to bowl here. Rasikh has improved a lot. Mukesh has been our best bowler this season. He bowls all the difficult overs, whether at the start or at the death. There has been no match this season where we didn't need his bowling in the death. "

He added, "We knew that conceding sixes would lead to more losses, so he has consistently delivered there. Our Indian bowlers have been great this season."