Rishabh Pant is one of the most exciting youngsters going around and hence has a lot of eyes on him. Every performance of the talented youngster is analyzed and is much talked about.
It wasn’t any different during last India vs Australia ODI series which Australia won by 3-2. During the 4th ODI at Mohali, Pant missed quite a few chances behind the stumps and received a lot of criticism for that.
The latest name to voice his opinion about Pant is his coach from Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting. While talking to India Today, Ponting said, "Rishabh Pant is not only an exceptional talent but also a really good thinker about the game. He has got a really mature head on his shoulders while on the field and probably a little immature off it with some of the things he does. But, he is a fun-loving, young character. I think he is a very mature and a good a leader too. He understands the game and the situations really well,"
Pant had a fantastic IPL season for the same franchise last year. He was 2nd highest run-getter of the tournament and forced his way into the national team with his exceptional knocks throughout the season.
While talking about all the youngsters from his team, Ponting said, "I would love to have him the same season he had last year. I think he scored over 650 runs last year and was the leading run-scorer. I would like that to happen again.”
“You just have to make sure that with the guys like Shreyas (Iyer), Prithvi (Shaw), Rishabh, and even Shikhar (Dhawan) to a certain degree, that they are not thinking too far ahead about the World Cup, are fully invested in playing well for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, giving us a chance to win the tournament. That is what we will be talking to them in the next couple of weeks before our first game."
Delhi Capitals also have a couple of exciting new changes to their line-up this year. While Gautam Gambhir was appointed the captain, he handed over the captaincy to Shreyas Iyer midway throughout the tournament. He will be the permanent captain of the team this year.
Talking about Iyer, Ponting said, "Look Shreyas did a real job last season, having been a young guy thrust into the position of captaining in the IPL. It wasn't an easy thing for him but he handled it really well. He has been captaining Mumbai and also India A during the last 12 months. He will be a lot better for that. He is a terrific young boy, exceptional talent and has had a really good domestic season coming into the IPL. I hope he will be one of the leading run-scorers again this year and hopefully, his captaincy stands up under pressure."
Former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguly has joined the franchise as an advisor. Talking about their relations, Ponting said, "Sourav and I have always got along really well. He is pretty close to us now as an advisor. He was with us for the first practice session and will be traveling along with the team too. His knowledge and experience around our team will be a really good thing for us. I am looking forward to working with him."
Delhi Capitals will kick off their campaign by locking horns vs Mumbai Indians on the 24th of March at Wankhede Stadium.
