“He's good now, he will play in the IPL next season” - Sourav Ganguly provides a significant update on Rishabh Pant

Delhi Capitals’ (DC) Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly has stated that Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be seen in action for the franchise during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

Pant, who captains DC in the IPL, has been out of action since being involved in a horrific car crash in December last year. He suffered multiple injuries in the accident and has been undergoing rehabilitation for the past many months.

In some positive news, the keeper-batter joined his Delhi Capitals teammates during a training session at the Jadavpur University Salt Lake Campus ground on Thursday, November 9.

Speaking to reporters recently about the same, Ganguly was quoted as saying in a PTI report:

"He's (Pant) good now. He will play in the IPL next season.”

The former India skipper revealed that Pant is in Kolkata on a three-day visit to strategize about team-building ahead of the IPL auctions, which will be held in Dubai on December 19.

Giving further details about Pant’s visit to the training camp, the franchise’s director of cricket stated:

"Rishabh won't be practicing here though. There's still time for him to get down to practice. By January (2024), he'll get even better. We were talking about the team. He is the captain, so he put in his views regarding the upcoming auction. That's the reason he has come here, to finalize certain aspects related to the team."

Veteran Australian opener David Warner led Delhi Capitals in Pant's absence during IPL 2023. DC had a forgettable edition, finishing ninth with five wins and nine losses from 14 matches.

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Rishabh Pant’s career stats

Pant, 26, has featured in 33 Tests, 30 ODIs, and 66 T20Is for India, scoring 2271, 865, and 987 runs, respectively. He has a healthy average of 43.67 in Tests, with five hundreds and 11 fifties.

Rather surprisingly, the swashbuckling left-hander has an underwhelming average of 34.60 in ODIs and 22.43 in T20Is. Pant, however, has a strike rate of 106.65 in the 50-over format and 126.37 in the 20-over format.

The batter last represented India in the Mirpur Test against Bangladesh in December 2022.

Looking at his IPL numbers, the southpaw has 2838 runs from 98 matches, averaging 34.61 at a strike rate of 147.97.