Akshar Patel will lead Deli Capitals (DC) in place of regular skipper Rishabh Pant in their IPL 2024 fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday (May 12).
Pant will miss the action after being suspended by BCCI for his third over-rate offence of the season. He was also fined INR 30 lakh for maintaining a slow over-rate in DC’s last match against the Rajasthan Royals.
The franchise appealed against the match referee's ruling. The matter was then referred to the BCCI Ombudsman, who upheld the decision made by the referee.
On the eve of the RCB clash, DC head coach Ricky Ponting confirmed Akshar’s elevation as captain.
"He (Akshar) has been vice-captain at this franchise for the last couple of seasons. A very experienced IPL player, an experienced international player, a sensible guy, understands the game really well. He's excited about it. We started talking about it a couple of days ago when there was a possibility that Rishabh might be banned," Ponting said in the pre-match presser.
"He's got his head around it. We've done our bowlers' meetings today. He'll catch up with all the guys tonight, go through all the plans and make sure that he's ready to lead the team well tomorrow," he added.
Delhi Capitals are holding fifth spot in the team standings with 12 points from 12 games. On the other hand, RCB are on a winning streak of four matches.
"They're all tough games in the IPL. If you wind the clock back two weeks, RCB weren't playing anywhere near their best. And, now, they probably played as well as anybody in the tournament," Ponting said.
"I'll put a case forward as well to say that what we've done as a team in the last seven games has been as impressive as anyone in the tournament. We've won five of our last seven, and we've made some huge scores along the way. There are no excuses from us tomorrow, regardless of Pant not being in the lineup. If we turn up and play our best game, then I know that the Delhi Capitals will be very hard to beat tomorrow," he further remarked.
While talking about the team combination, Ponting also provided an update on David Warner's fitness.
"David Warner missed the last game, he got that nasty knock on his hand about a month ago now and hasn't played a game since. He trained really strongly yesterday, he'll be out hitting balls in the middle now, so he'll be doing some more batting today. Hopefully, he's available for selection for tomorrow," the DC coach stated.
