Ponting: Pant wants to be the leader
Rishabh Pant
|| India Correspondent ||
Delhi Capitals Head Coach Ricky Ponting on Sunday said that Rishabh Pant understands the game quite well and captaincy will help him too. However, Ponting has attended his first practice session with the team as well.
Delhi Capitals wouldn't get the service of their regular captain Shreyas Iyer, who injured his left shoulder during the India-England ODI series in Pune and eventually ruled out. And, the franchise announced the young wicket-keeper batsman Pant as the captain of the team for the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on March 30. The cash-rich league will begin on April 9.
“I think extra responsibility is going to sit really well with him. He’s that sort of a person who likes the responsibility, wants to be the main man and wants to be the leader, so I am really excited to see how he goes. We’ll help him through, but honestly, I don’t think he’s going to need much help at all,” Ponting said in a statement.
He said: “I think if we can get most of the talking with Rishabh about his captaincy done leading into the first game then we don’t have to worry about it as the tournament starts. The last thing you want is to be overloading the captain with all sorts of information once the tournament is underway. It’s a big part of my job, and other coaches and senior players’ job to get behind Rishabh and help him where they need to. Not only during training, but during matches as well.”
The veteran further added that Pant’s performances in the last few months have been breathtaking as well.
“I have known how talented Rishabh is since the moment I laid eyes on him. When he got back into the Test squad in Australia, I actually made a comment before a ball was bowled in the second Test match that this will be the unearthing of a 15-year Test player for India. I think he’s on track for doing that. His cricket in the last six-seven months has been nothing short of breathtaking and outstanding,” Ponting said.
“I am thrilled with the players that we’ve got here, and I think we can win the IPL. Might as well go on record and say it now because that’s what I am here for and that’s what the players are here for. We’ve had our chat and it’s all about winning and how we can go one step further from last year. But the other important thing for me is that we’ve got a very different group from the one we had last year. What happened last year doesn’t matter. We’ve got to work out a way to win enough games to qualify and then win the final,” he concluded.
