Rishabh Pant may not get to play this year’s IPL, but his coach at Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting, wants the wicketkeeper-batter by his side in the dugout during the tournament.

Why? Because irrespective of whether he plays or not, to Ponting, Pant is a “cultural leader” in the team.

Pant, who is also the Delhi Capitals captain, survived a horrific car accident in the last week of December and is currently recovering after undergoing a series of surgeries in Mumbai.

“You can’t replace those guys, simple as that. They don’t grow on trees, players like that. We’ve got to look at — and we already are — a replacement to come into the squad, a wicketkeeper-batsman,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.

“If he’s actually not physically fit enough to play, we’d still love to have him around. He’s the sort of cultural leader around the group, being the captain, and that attitude and infectious smile and laugh he has is what we all love so much about him.

“If he’s actually able to travel and be around the team, then I want him sitting beside me in the dugout every day of the week. I’ll certainly be making sure, come the middle of March when we get together in Delhi and start our camps and stuff, if he’s able to be there, then I want him around the whole time,” the former Australia captain said.

Ponting believes India will miss Pant badly in the upcoming four-Test series against Australia. “I think he’s ranked in the top six-seven Test batsmen in the world, isn’t he?”

“When he first started, we probably all thought he was going to be a better T20 and one-day batsman than a Test batsman, but it’s actually worked the other way. His Test cricket has been remarkable...we know how he played against Australia in Australia last time.”