Sourav Ganguly gives his verdict on Rishabh Pant's T20 World Cup chances ahead of MI vs DC IPL 2024 match

Delhi Capitals (DC) Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly gave his opinion on whether skipper Rishabh Pant was ready to make his comeback for India in the T20 World Cup to be played in June later this year.

Pant has had an impressive start to the IPL 2024 season with 152 runs from four matches at a brilliant strike rate of 158.33. With a couple of half-centuries to his name too, a debate has sparked up about whether Pant will be on the flight to the West Indies and the USA.

Speaking to the reporters ahead of DC's IPL 2024 fixture against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Sourav Ganguly explained why Rishabh Pant needed more game time before getting into the T20 World Cup debate, especially after the 15-month-long recovery he had due to the horrific car accident.

"Rishabh is fully fit. His form has been fantastic. He is keeping and batting well but let him play a few matches more. If the national selectors want him, I should be able to judge in another week," Ganguly said.

Ganguly feels a few more games under Pant's belt would get the latter up to speed with the energy levels needed for a showpiece event like the T20 World Cup.

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Sourav Ganguly on MI vs DC

The Capitals were thrashed by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their previous game and the 106-run defeat also badly dented their net run-rate. However, Sourav Ganguly believes that in the shortest format of the game, suddenly any team can get on a roll and win a handful of games with momentum.

On this, he stated:

"Mumbai are a good team, we are a good team as well. We expect Mumbai to play well because they have been a great franchise for a long period of time. They have some quality players in their squad. But T20 is such a format that sometimes you get into this situation, where you lose a couple of games and then find a way to get back."

MI, on the other hand, desperately need the two points as they are the only side in the IPL 2024 season to still have no wins to show. Having lost each of their three games so far, Mumbai will hope the six-day break helps them turn around their season.