IPL 2020 | Rishabh Pant is a 'match-winner,' expecting big impact from him, opines Ricky Ponting
DC coach Ricky Ponting has showered huge praise on Rishabh Pant calling him a match-winner and someone he expects to have big impact in IPL. Rishabh Pant has been really impressive in the IPL in the last three years and is ranked as one of the best T20 players in India, given his explosive style.
Rishabh Pant is one of the best if not the best when it comes to the shortest format in India. However, entering the 2020 IPL, Rishabh Pant will be under a lot of pressure. From India's no.1 choice wicket-keeper batsman across formats last year to not even making to the team for dead rubbers against New Zealand in T20Is, earlier this year, it has been a rollercoaster ride for the southpaw.
Ricky Ponting, DC's head coach, makes no bones about how highly he rates Rishabh Pant. When he took over the reins in 2018, Pant ended the season as leading run-scorer for the Capitals with 684 runs at an average of 52.61 and a strike rate of 173.60 while last year, he blasted 488 runs, second only to Shikhar Dhawan. Ponting called him a match-winner and also revealed that the team expects a big impact from the youngster.
"Just watching Rishabh train - certainly the last week - I think he has really turned a corner, and I am expecting him to once again have a really big impact on the tournament. We know he is a match-winner and if he can win the same amount of games that he won for us last year, I think that should hold us in good stead.
"I am sure Rishabh will be looking to have a big IPL tournament as he did last year and as he has done for the last couple of years for the Delhi Capitals, but we as a group are more than just about one player, Ponting was quoted as saying by Espn Cricinfo.
Ponting is also quite bullish about DC's batting this time around with the likes of Shaw, Iyer, Stoinis, Hetmyer and Carey.
"Prithvi, I am sure from what I have seen, looks an even better player. The skipper probably had his best ever 12 months as far as cementing a place in the Indian team [is concerned]. Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Alex Carey, we think we have lots of flexibility there. We have a good combination of left-hand and right-hand as well."
Delhi Capitals will lock horns with Kings XI Punjab tonight as both the teams play their first game of the season.
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