Ponting: Pant is 'very confident' of playing entire IPL 2024
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting has said Rishabh Pant is "very confident" he will be right to play the full IPL but Ponting is unsure whether he will be able to captain for the whole tournament or keep wicket given he is still recovering from the injuries he sustained in a major car accident.
Gasp has not played since his auto collision in December 2022 when he thought his "time in this world was finished."
Ponting, who was talking on Wednesday in Melbourne subsequent to being disclosed as Washington Opportunity's new MLC mentor, said Gasp was bullish about his accessibility for the impending season yet the mentor said anything they get from him is a reward.
"Rishabh is exceptionally sure that he will be more right than wrong to play," Ponting said. "In what limit we're not exactly certain yet.
"You would have seen every one of the web-based entertainment stuff, he's moving around and running great. Yet, in saying that we're just a month and a half away from the main game too. So we don't know whether we'll get wicketkeeping out of him this year.
"Yet, I'll ensure assuming I asked him presently he'll say, 'I'm playing each game, I'm keeping each game and I'm batting at No.4.' That exactly he's like, however we'll keep our fingers crossed.
"He's a particularly powerful player. He's clearly our chief. We missed him staggeringly last year.
"On the off chance that you comprehend the excursion he's been on the last 12-13 months, it was a horrendous occurrence. One that I realize he feels exceptionally fortunate to have even made due, not to mention get the opportunity to play cricket once more.
"We'll simply keep our fingers crossed and trust that he can be out there and play. Regardless of whether it's not every one of the games, on the off chance that we can oversee him through 10 of the 14 games or anything that could be then anything that games you can escape him will be a reward."
Ponting affirmed that David Warner would be chief once more assuming Gasp was inaccessible to finish the work. The mentor was content with the crew the establishment had collected after the sale in December yet recognized his crew has failed to meet expectations in the last two seasons.
"With Harry Creek coming into the set-up too, so Warner, [Mitch] Swamp, Harry Stream, we have a few great abroad hitters," Ponting said.
"Bog and Warner will bat up the top some place and Harry Creek has been polishing off with Britain, so he'll most likely play a completing job for us there.
"[If] we can get [Anrich] Nortje and Jhye Richardson fit, and with the two twist choices we have with Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav we have a great crew that to be fair has most likely failed to meet expectations the most recent few years, so we have a work to do."
Richardson's accessibility will be a significant inquiry for Capitals. The Western Australia speedy has not played since harming his side during the BBL and there is no course of events on his return for WA at the back finish of the Australian homegrown season. He likewise experienced one more shoulder separation before the BBL and couldn't toss in the games he played.
Be that as it may, Ponting was more worried about Capitals' batting, especially on their home ground at Arun Jaitley Arena, where they won only two of their seven home games in IPL 2023.
"Our batting was disheartening last year," Ponting said. "A ton of the folks that we felt would have the option to deal with troublesome circumstances in Delhi, a turning wicket a ton of the time, we weren't sufficient in those circumstances.
"We have a provokes with our home scene to tell the truth. We rock up each game, we're not entirely certain precisely what kind of wicket we will get.
"So you'd go to the sale anticipating that you're going should get one [type] of surface and you rock up for five games, seven games there and you get five unique pitches so that makes it hard. In any case, we certainly needed on batting quality last year, which we've attempted to enhance this year, as a matter of fact.
"We've gone to the well with two or three actually profoundly gifted youthful Indian players that we believe that are prepared to play straight away. That is the thing about the IPL, it's one year to the enormous sale so dislike you can truly put a lot in these youthful guys and expect to further develop them short-term. You must get the best ability out there that you figure's prepared to play. Furthermore, we have a couple of those this year."