“I am the 13th player coz of impact rule” – Rishabh Pant ahead of DC’s opening game in IPL 2023

Delhi Capitals (DC) regular skipper Rishabh Pant sounded ecstatic ahead of their opening IPL 2023 game against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday, April 1.

The wicketkeeper-batter reacted hilariously to the new Impact Player rule as DC asked fans to pick their playing XI in a tweet post ahead of their IPL 2023 opener.

Taking to Twitter, DC captioned the post:

“It’s that time of the year again. Predict our XI stars who will take the field against LSG.”

In response, Rishabh Pant wrote:

“I am 13th player coz of impact rule otherwise would have been 12th man.”

Pant has been ruled out of IPL 2023 due to injury. The 25-year-old survived a life-threatening car accident in December last year. The southpaw was admitted to a local hospital in Dehradun before being shifted to a Mumbai-based hospital. Pant is on his road to recovery and is currently undergoing rehabilitation.

For the uninitiated, the Indian Premier League has introduced the ‘Impact Player’ to make the new season more entertaining. The new rule allows teams to change one of their players in the XI. The captain lists five substitute players, in addition to playing XI at the toss. Any one of these players can be used as an impact player.

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Abishek Porel replaces Rishabh Pant in the DC squad for IPL 2023

Delhi Capitals have replaced the injured Rishabh Pant with Bengal's Abishek Porel in their squad for IPL 2023, the franchise announced on Friday, March 31.

The wicketkeeper-batter has so far played 16 first-class games, three T20s and as many List-A games. He joined DC at a base price of ₹20 lakh.

In Pant’s absence, David Warner has been appointed as captain of the Delhi-based franchise, while all-rounder Axar Patel has been named as his deputy.

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DC squad for IPL 2023

Ishant Sharma, Phil Salt, Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rilee Rossouw, Rishabh Pant (ruled out), David Warner (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Aman Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, and Vicky Ostwal.