Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is girding up his loins to lead Delhi Capitals (DC) in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which begins on Friday.
Pant has been handed over the responsibility to captain the side after DC’s regular skipper Shreyas Iyer injured his shoulder in the ODI series against England and got ruled out of the cash-rich league’s fourteenth season.
Pant, who is often regarded as the ideal successor of legendary MS Dhoni, is looking forward to his team’s opening clash against Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Ahead of his debut season as a skipper in IPL, Pant is hoping to utilise the learnings he gained from the Ranchi-born superstar.
The match between Capitals and Super Kings will be played on April 10 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, a day after the curtain-raiser between reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
In a video shared by Capitals’ official Twitter handle, the 23-year-old explosive batsman said that he is excited to lead DC and looking forward to playing his first match against Dhoni.
“I am very excited too that I will be doing the captaincy for the first time, and the first game will be against Mahi Bhai (Dhoni),” said Pant.
The Delhi-lad asserted that it would be a good opportunity for him to face CSK. Pant said he would apply the learnings he got from Dhoni along with his own experiences as well.
“It will be a good experience for me as I have learned a lot from him, and I have a lot of experience from my life too, so we will try to mix that up and do something new and different with CSK this year,” added Pant.
📹 | @RishabhPant17 brought a lot of positive energy to his first interview as captain 🤩
P.S. #RP17 is all set for the first game against mentor and friend, @msdhoni 💙💛#YehHaiNayiDilli #DCAllAccess @OctaFX pic.twitter.com/D3zrquEf1C
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 6, 2021
