Talented Indian keeper-batter Rishabh Pant suffered serious injuries in a car crash on December 30. He is currently undergoing treatment for the injuries he suffered during the horrific car accident. The star cricketer has reportedly undergone surgery on the medial collateral ligament and a minor repair on the anterior cruciate ligament.
The star keeper-batter was traveling to Roorkee when his luxury car hit a road divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway on the morning of January 30 and burst into flames. He was on his way to his hometown to surprise his mother. He had a miraculous escape but suffered multiple injuries and was immediately taken to hospital.
While the timeline of Pant’s return is unclear at present, however, according to his medical condition, the Indian batter can be sidelined for at least the next six months. He was also ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2023. However, former Australian captain and the Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting wants his captain to be around the team in the upcoming 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Speaking on The ICC Review show, Ponting admitted that the Delhi Capitals are looking for a replacement for the star player but he also accepted that players like Pant “don’t grow on trees”. He said: “You can’t replace guys like Pant, simple as that. They don’t grow on trees, players like that. We’ve got to look at, and we already are, looking at a replacement to come into the squad, a wicketkeeper-batsman,”
Ponting further added that if Pant is not fit to play, he would still like to have the star player around the team. He said: “If he is 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 he is the captain, and that attitude and infectious smile and laugh he has, is what we all love so much about him,”
He added: “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.”
Earlier, Delhi Capitals’ newly elected Director of Cricket for Delhi Capitals Sourav Ganguly also confirmed that Rishabh will be out of the 2023 edition of the IPL.
