IPL 2024: Rishabh Pant Will Lead Delhi Capitals Next Season, Says Director Of Cricket Sourav Ganguly

Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was present at the four-day pre-season training camp of Delhi Capitals in Kolkata ahead of IPL 2024 season.

Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant. (Source: X)

In what is great news from Indian cricket and the Delhi Capitals team, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant will be back leading the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise in the 2024 season, confirmed Director of Cricket and former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday. Pant arrived at the DC pre-season training camp going on at the Jadavpur University Salt Lake campus ground in Kolkata.

“Rishabh Pant is in good shape. He will play from next season. He will not practice now. He is here till 11th November. We had a discussion about the team with Pant as he is the captain of the team, considering the upcoming auctions,” Sourav Ganguly told India Today in Kolkata.

Pant has been out of international cricket since a horrific car crash near Dehradun in December las year. The Indian wicketkeeper has been recuperating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru after undergoing multiple surgeries for ligament damage in his knee after the car accident.

The DC captain will not be practicing with the bat or be seen behind the stumps during the four-day camp in Kolkata but will be part of team discussions ahead of IPL 2024 mini auction, which is set to take place in Dubai on December 19 this year.

“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,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Telegraph newspaper.

“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,” Ganguly added.

WATCH Rishabh Pant in Delhi Capitals training camp in Kolkata HERE…

Great news for team India:

Rishabh Pant has started practicing. pic.twitter.com/c5LMTxxtKq — Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 9, 2023

DC were led by Australian opener David Warner in the absence of Pant in the IPL 2023 season. After making the Playoffs in IPL 2021 and 2022, DC finished in number nine position on the Points Table in 2023, with just 5 wins in 14 matches under Warner.

Pant has turned out in 98 matches in IPL so far and scored 2,838 runs at an average of 34.61 with a strike-rate of 147.97 with 1 hundred and 15 fifties to his name. The Indian wicketkeeper is expected to make his international comeback in the five-match Test series against England beginning in January next year.