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Is Rishabh Pant the right man to lead Delhi Capitals?

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One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

This saying best fits the situation at the Delhi Capitals camp at the moment as they are all set to be led by a young captain in this year’s IPL.

The franchise has tasked Rishabh Pant, 23, with the responsibility of heading the side after Shreyas Iyer was sidelined for the entire tournament due to a shoulder injury.

The right-handed batsman was injured during the first England-India ODI that India won by 66 runs.

Pant has been India’s go-to guy in the white-ball series for the past few months, not to forget his heroics with the bat in the Australia tour as well.

The 23-year-old won the Gabba Test for the visitors single-handedly to help India clinch the Border-Gavaskar series.

Coupled with decent outings against England at home, the young sensation has been trusted by his franchise to do well in the coming IPL and continue to pile up big totals with his free-flowing batting.

But gauging Pant’s ability to lead the team by his age would be unfair.

While this instance makes him the fifth-youngest player in the IPL’s history, this is not the first time the left-handed star will be skipper, in his professional career.

Back in 2017, a 19-year-old Pant took over the captaincy of Delhi from veteran Gautam Gambhir, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Delhi coach Bhaskar Pillai had said that team selectors had chosen Pant for the job to groom him as a future leader.

This past experience has definitely been a consideration when the current DC management decided to make him captain.

 Is Pant the perfect choice?

Shikhar Dhawan could have been a decent candidate for the job as well, but any avid follower of Indian cricket knows that the country is a big believer in preparing future leaders.

Investing in youth seems to be the new mantra.

With a 35-year-old Dhawan leading the side, Delhi Capitals might have replicated their good run from last season.

However, that will not benefit their long-term plans much since the veteran is not in contention to lead either the Indian team or a franchise in the near future.

This makes Pant a candidate with the best shot as someone who keeps the wicket, views the field from the best position in the field, and has also, rubbed shoulder with MS Dhoni during international duties.

Moreover, twenty-over cricket is often regarded as a young man’s game since it has sped up the sport itself.

With an energetic keeper who has been enjoying international exposure since 2016 as an India U-19 player, Pant seems like a good choice.

The Pant-Ponting bond

Rishabh Pant and Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting share a great bond that has been evident in the dugout for the past few seasons.

The Australian batting great has hailed Pant’s mindset when it comes to being a skipper. 

In his first interview since joining the Capitals’ camp, the cricket legend said that Pant will thrive under the extra pressure.

He was of the view that the important thing is to bombard the 23-year-old with team plans and information as the tournament kicks off on April 9.

Ponting affirmed that senior players like Ishant Sharma, Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ajinkya Rahane will also assist Pant in the IPL games.

This is because, Ponting believes that Pant will need a little support now and then in the season despite possessing a strong mindset.

Whether Ponting and the DC management is right, will be proved on the field on April 10 when Delhi will play their first game against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.

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Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry star in RCB women’s comeback win against UP Warriorz in WPL 2024

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Smriti Mandhana and Alyssa Healy (Source - X)

RCB women overcame UP Warriorz by 23 runs to clinch their third win of the season. The home side outperformed Warriorz in all the facets of the game and emerged victorious. A collective team effort, particularly with the bat, helped RCB women to beat Warriorz for the second time in the season. They now have three wins in their five matches in the WPL 2024.

Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to field first. Given how things have panned out in the league so far, it needed a great batting performance from RCB to challenge the chasing side. The home side did exactly that. They were full of intent which was lacking in the last few games. Right from the start, S Meghana and Smriti Mandhana smashed the bowlers.

It was the night of the RCB skipper. The Southpaw scored 80(50) in her stay. S Meghana perished after a valuable 28(21). Ellyse Perry batted well and registered her first fifty of the WPL 2024. She was aided well towards the end by Richa Ghosh whose 21(10) propelled RCB to a score of 198 on the board. It was the highest team total in the WPL 2024.

Alyssa Healy’s efforts go in vain

Chasing the daunting total, UP Warriorz were off to a flier. The opening duo of Healy and Kiran Navgire gave a fiery start to the visiting side. When the two were batting in the PP overs, it seemed like the Warriorz could pull off an insane chase. However, Sophie Devine brought RCB back into the game with crucial wickets. At Bengaluru, the home crowd was literally behind the RCB women.

It helped the home side to stay calm and do their job with ease. Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana were the pick of the bowlers, who claimed 2/29 each in their spell of four overs. While Healy scored a fifty and Deepti tried her best in the death overs, ten daunting targets could not be chased down. Despite the early hiccups, RCB managed to restrict UP Warriorz to a score of 175 and won by 23 runs.

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WATCH: Ellyse Perry in disbelief as her six breaks car’s window

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Ellyse Perry smashed a six in the match against UP Warriorz in the WPL 2024. It was an interesting six as the ball travelled towards the boundary ropes and fell exactly on the window of the car. As a result, the glass of the window was broken. The car is set to be provided as a reward for the player of the tournament.

It was the over of Deepti Sharma towards the last few moments of RCB’s innings. Before Perry struck, the home side was in a great position in the match, thanks to a great start provided by Smriti Mandhana. The star batter scored 80 (50) and shined in front of the home crowd. Her form helped RCB to have a good momentum towards the death overs.

Watch the viral video here –

Perry, who was struggling till that point, opened up and smashed the bowlers for fun. She went hard against the spinners like Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma who were asked to bowl at the death. The right-handed batter smashed back-to-back sixes in the over of Sharma. One of those travelled towards the mid-wicket region where the car was stationed. The video of her shot has gone viral on X.

RCB teammates laugh, Ellyse Perry in disbelief

As the ball fell on the car and damaged the window, the fans erupted. There was no end to the joy of the fans who started chanting “Perry.. Perry..” and lit the atmosphere of the stadium. However, Perry was in disbelief. As she saw the impact of the ball damaging the car’s window, the Australian batter could not believe her eyes and thought about what she had just done.

On the other hand, the RCB teammates of Perry were in awe of the shot. They looked at the replays and appreciated the shot of Perry. At the same time, players like Sophie Molineux and Sophie Devine had a laugh about the car’s window getting damaged. Ellyse scored a fifty and helped her team score 198 runs with her batting in front of the home crowd.

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Praveen Kumar addresses Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s negligence of taking part in Ranji Trophy

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Praveen Kumar

Praveen Kumar has given his opinion on the preferences of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer in recent times. The duo did not take part in the Ranji Trophy matches for their respective teams despite being fit. It did not go well with the Indian Cricket Board which landed the duo without a ventral contract which was announced a few days back.

Praveen Kumar has reacted to the issue recently. The former India pacer claimed that he has been of an opinion on the issue for a long time. Praveen felt that one should definitely earn money but not at the cost of neglecting to play for domestic and national teams. The right-arm pacer felt that players today are having a certain mentality which is not good.

The former pacer claimed that the players have a mindset that they can rest for a month before taking part in the IPL, thereby bypassing playing for their national team or the domestic teams. Praveen felt that the players could not resist letting go of money which they could earn by taking part in the IPL and other T20 leagues (For foreign players).

‘Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun’ – Praveen Kumar

“This thing is now firmly in the mind of players. Mai ek mahine pehle rest kar lunga, fir IPL khel lunga. Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun,” said Praveen in the interview. He claimed that youngsters these days are spoilt and are behind money. The former RCB pacer felt that it is not fair on the part of the young players to neglect the country over the IPL.

Kumar felt that a player needs to maintain a balance between playing for the IPL team and for the country. He felt that money is an important factor, but not at the cost of playing for the national team. “But this is not fair at all. A player needs to balance things. Money is important, but this (giving franchise cricket the priority) is wrong,” said the former Indian bowler in the interview.

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