Rishabh Pant set to return in IPL 2024 as Delhi Capitals skipper: Report

India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is reportedly set to make his long-awaited return to competitive cricket during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). According to a report on Cricbuzz, the Delhi Capitals management is confident Pant will be leading the franchise in the 17th edition of the world’s biggest T20 league next year. Pant’s return to action, however, will be subject to clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where he is currently undergoing rehabilitation. Additionally, whether he gets to keep wickets in the IPL or not will be a call taken by the BCCI. The Capitals, however, will field him purely as a batter even if he is unable to perform wicketkeeping duties. “If he is not keeping, he will definitely be on the field and will lead the side,” a franchise official was quoted as saying in the report. Pant has been out of action since meeting with a car accident while driving from New Delhi to his hometown of Roorkee last December. The wicketkeeper-batter, who had become the first-choice wicketkeeper across formats since MS Dhoni’s retirement, had a miraculous escape after his Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe crashed into a divider and burst into flames. He had been rushed to a hospital in Dehradun and subsequently airlifted to Mumbai, where he underwent a surgery on his right knee under the supervision of Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Pant had also suffered injuries to his back and his ankle in the crash, and also had to undergo plastic surgery for burns. Pant, who has represented India in 33 Tests and 30 ODIs besides 66 T20Is, had last represented the nation in their tour of Bangladesh last December. While India lost the ODI series 1-2, they swept the Tests 2-0, with Pant scoring 93 in the second Test in Mirpur. Days later, in the wee hours of 30 December, he would meet with the accident. In Pant’s absence, senior Australian opener David Warner led the Capitals in IPL 2023, with the franchise finishing second-from-bottom. He had recently been retained by the Capitals on the IPL Player Retention deadline on 26 November, though the IPL 2020 runners-up refrained from naming a captain back then.