Amid the ongoing speculations over a possible return of Rishabh Pant for his team Delhi Capitals in the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), GMR Sports CEO, PKSV Sagar on Friday broke silence on the star player's return.
Pant has been sidelined since a vehicle accident at the end of last year, but the wicketkeeper batter is making a great recovery and is likely to return to the pitch this year.
The first hint of his return to IPL came back in November when he attended a DC camp in Kolkata, attended by senior support staff of the team including Sourav Ganguly (director of cricket), Ricky Ponting (head coach), and Pravin Amre (assistant coach).
Subsequently, Pant took part in the discussions about the retention and release of players ahead of the auction.
Sagar said they are hoping that India's wicketkeeper batter will soon make a return and play in IPL 2024. Pant has represented DC since 2016 and scored 2,838 runs in 98 matches at an average of 34.61 and a strike rate of over 147, with a century and 15 fifties to his name.
"Yes, we are hoping for the best we can expect that he will play this season. He is the biggest player.....if he plays then it will be good for us. Our coaches and Physio are doing work on him and the best part is this he is recovering very well. We hope by March he will fit and play for us," Sagar told ANI in ILT20.
GMR also has a team in ILT20 called Dubai Capitals, which is led by Australia's star opener David Warner.
"Yes we added David Warner this year to our ILT 20 franchise and we wish that his presence can make many things good in the team," GMR Sports CEO added.
The franchise bagged the hard-hitting Harry Brook for INR 4 crore along with Australian fast bowler Jhye Richardson for INR 5 crore and West Indian wicketkeeper-batter Shai Hope for INR 75 lakh. The Delhi Capitals also picked up uncapped Indian wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra for INR 7.2 crore.
"Yes we do work on that we want Harry Brooke to come and play for us in the middle order and we made our team strong by adding Sagar," Sagar added.
