David Warner is likely to lead the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2023 after Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the 16th edition of the IPL, that will start on March 31 or April 1, following his car accident on Friday morning.
The news website Insidesport has reported that Pant “will miss the entire or at least the first half of IPL 2023”.
His MRI of the brain and spine are normal, but he had undergone plastic surgery to manage his facial injuries, lacerated wounds on the day of the accident.
While there are no serious broken fractures so far, Pant does have a “suspected right knee ligament injury, and suspected right ankle ligament injury” suffered during the car accident. This will keep him out for about 3 months, forcing him to miss the Border-Gavaskar Test series against Australia, which starts on February 9, and also from at least the first half of the IPL 2023.
“Pant will take at least three to six months to recover from ligament injury. And if it’s severe, he may take more time. Further evaluation can be based on his detailed injury report,” Dr Qamar Azam, head of sports injury department at AIIMS-Rishikesh, told TOI.
In that case, David Warner is the leading candidate to be named as the Delhi Capitals captain for the upcoming season. Warner led Surisers Hyderabad to the IPL 2016 title. He is also the most experienced player in the DC squad.
Other options DC have are Mitchell Marsh, who has captained Perth Scorchers in the BBL, and Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey, who have led their respective domestic teams.
InsideSport understands that Delhi Capitals do not want to take any call at the moment as the focus is on Rishabh’s recovery. When the time comes and he doesn’t fully recover, DC will make the official change.
Under Pant, DC reached the playoffs in 2021 and finished 5th in 2022 IPL.
Delhi Capitals squad for IPL 2023:
Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Aman Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Ishant Sharma, Phil Salt, Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rilee Rossouw.
