Rishabh Pant will play in Indian Premier League 2024, former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is the director of cricket at Delhi Capitals for whom the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman plays in the T20 tournament, said on Thursday.
“He (Pant)’s good now. He will play in the IPL next season,” Ganguly said on Thursday on the sidelines of a four-day camp organised by the franchise at the Jadavpur University Salt Lake campus ground.
Pant of course would have been happier had he been in Bangalore at present preparing with his India teammates for Sunday’s last league-phase game of the ongoing World Cup against the Netherlands, fine-tuning his skills ahead of the semi-final contest.
Life though has bowled him a wrong’un. A horrific car accident last December threatened to jeopardise his career, but Pant, 26, has survived that and is now back on his feet.
It was around quarter past 11 in the morning when Pant arrived at the camp, sporting a white T-shirt and black shorts. After discussions with Sourav and Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting, he also had a word or two with other members of the support staff and a few of the players.
For a player of his calibre to be out of international cricket for such a long
period of time is certainly frustrating. But there didn’t seem to be an iota of discontent or, for that matter, even concern on Pant’s face. He was his usual relaxed self right through, obliging fans with selfies.
More than everything, Pant is relieved that he’s walking freely now having had training sessions at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He also played in a couple of practice matches.
In the ongoing camp, which ends on Saturday, Pant will not practise with the
bat or behind the stumps as he’s here mainly for team-related matters and discussions with Sourav and Ponting ahead of the IPL auction, which is scheduled for December 19 in Dubai.
“Rishabh won’t be practising here though. There’s still time for him to get down to practice. By January (2024), he’ll get even better,” Sourav said.
“We were talking about the team. He is the captain, so he put in his views regarding the upcoming auction. That’s the reason he has come here, to finalise certain aspects related to the team.”
Pant’s last competitive game was the December 22-25 India-Bangladesh Test last year in Mirpur. During his absence in this year’s IPL, the Capitals, led by senior Australia opener David Warner, finished second from bottom.
