IPL 2023: I want Rishabh Pant's shirt number to be on caps and shirts of Delhi players: Ricky Ponting
IPL: Ponting asks for Pant's shirt number to be on caps, jerseys of DC players
Indian keeper-batter Rishabh Pant got ruled out of the IPL 2023 as he is recovering from the road accident he suffered late last year on the Delhi-Dehradun highway. Ricky Ponting, a former great and Delhi Capitals coach, has hailed Pant and expressed his disappointment in not having the India international leading the side this season.
Ahead of IPL 2023, which starts in less than a week's time, Punter, as fans used to call him, has asked the franchise to use Rishabh Pant’s jersey number on the caps and jerseys of all Delhi players throughout the tournament as a tribute to him.
While praising him on Friday, as quoted by the Times of India, Ponting said Pant is the heart and soul of the team; and that he believes the left-handed batter is one of the best batters across all formats in the world. The former Aussie captain added Pant’s absence is a huge loss to the team, and he will be missed in the dugout.
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"Rishabh is the heart and soul of this team. I would like to have him in the dugout. But I really believe if we could have his shirt number on the cap or shirts of the players," Ponting said as quoted by TOI.
"Pant is a huge loss and it doesn't matter who we bring in and we are still going to miss him. I am not going to joke or try and gloss over that fact and he is one of the best players in the world in all three formats," Punter added.
In Pant's absence, Punter has pinned his hopes on controversial opening batter Prithvi Shaw, who is yet to find his feet in this cash-rich league. Having made headlines for the wrong reasons lately, Prithvi is training harder than before and is in much better shape, as per his franchise coach.
Ponting said he has seen the hunger in Shaw’s eyes this time and firmly believes that this IPL 2023 is going to be his biggest season.
“Prithvi has worked and trained better than I have ever seen him do. He is in better physical shape than what I have seen him ever before and I spoke to him the other day about his attitude and how he is training. This is going to be his biggest IPL season. He just has that different look in his eyes, you could see he is hungrier than ever, the level of talent and ability he has you will see," Ponting said.
Delhi Capitals begin their IPL 2023 campaign against former five-time champions Mumbai Indians on April 2nd.
