With Sourav Ganguly, the newly joined Director of Cricket operations of Delhi Capitals, confirming that Rishabh Pant is not available for the upcoming IPL 2023 season, the scouts of the franchise are now staring at a possible alternative for the India wicket-keeper. To be very frank, replacing someone like Pant, who is not only a gun batter, but is also a crack wicket-keeper, is aways going to be difficult. But former India cricketer Pragyan Ojha has come up with a possible alternative. And he is none other than Phil Salt who played a magical inning for the sister franchise Pretoria Capitals on Thursday at SA 20.
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In this match against Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Salt smashed 77 runs off just 47 balls. With this innings, Ojha thinks, that the English batter might soon be playing for Delhi Capitals, acting as a perfect alternative to someone like Pant. His wicket-keeping skills making him the perfect alternative.
“The most important thing is when you talk about their sister franchise, the situation that they are in they would need someone like Salt to keep and deliver the way he’s delivered here. And I think all these think tanks will be looking at him as a resource where he can come in and fix those puzzles which they have a small gap,” Ojha was quoted as saying to Match Centre Live.
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Earlier former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said Pant will not be available for the IPL 2023 as he recovers from a horrific card accident that left him with multiple injuries. Pant was airlifted to a Mumbai hospital last week from Dehradun before undergoing surgery on his knee.
Pant leads Delhi Capitals in IPL with reports emerging that in the event of the wicketkeeper-batter missing the upcoming season, they may turn to Australian David Warner to take up the captain’s role.
“Rishabh Pant will not be available for the IPL. I am in connection with Delhi Capitals. It will be a great IPL (for the team), we will do well but Rishabh Pant’s injury will affect the Delhi Capitals,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Sports Today. Pant is undergoing treatment at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital and reportedly, his ligament injury could take three-four months to heal. IPL 2023 is expected to start in the last week of March.
Meanwhile, Ganguly will expected to join DC as their Director of Cricketer after stepping down as BCCI president last year.
The 25-year-old Pant was driving on the Delhi-Dehradun highway when his car collided with a divider on December 30. He was pulled out of the vehicle in time before it caught fire.
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