While admitting that Rishabh Pant is irreplaceable, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed that he has been impressed by one of the players who could be tried out this season.
The Delhi Capitals skipper has been ruled out of the entire season as he recovers after being involved in a dangerous car crash earlier this year. Missing Pant would be huge blow for Delhi Capitals not only because of his leadership but also his batting.
Widely regarded as one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world, the Delhi Capitals star has been one of the batting mainstays for the franchise from the last 6 years or so. Since the 2017 edition, he has crossed the 300-run mark in all the IPL seasons so far.
Speaking about Pant, Ricky Ponting admitted that missing the player would be a huge loss for the team. The former Australia skipper did not beat around the bush as he made it clear that replacing Pant is almost impossible for the franchise.
“Pant is a huge loss and it doesn’t matter who we bring in as we are still going to miss Rishabh. I am not going to joke or try and gloss over that fact and he is one of the best players in the world in three formats of the game,” Ricky Ponting was quoted as saying by PTI.
“He (Pant) is ranked in top five among Test batsmen in world and obviously our leader and has been our No. 4 batter in middle-order and finisher for us and replacing him is going to be pretty much impossible,” he added.
Ricky Ponting impressed by Aman Khan:
While Delhi Capitals will definitely miss Rishabh Pant’s finishing abilities with the bat, Ricky Ponting could try out Aman Khan after being highly impressed by him. Last year, Delhi had traded Shardul Thakur to Kolkata Knight Riders to secure Aman’s services.
Aman is not very experienced when it comes to professional cricket but he has shown glimpse of his talent. In 14 T20s, he has scored at a strike-rate of over 166 and has struck 15 fours and 9 sixes. He is also a handy medium pacer.
“Aman Khan is one that has really impressed us and we traded Shardul (Thakur) with KKR to get him in and he has been ultra-impressive and I don’t know how much you have seen of him and his last couple of days at training has been pretty special,” Ponting gave his assessment of the youngster.
“So when we are talking about losing some power in middle-order, Aman Khan, Rovman Powell and someone like Axar Patel, whose batting has improved a lot in last 12 months, we will find ways to cover for Rishabh but we will not get same quality player,” he added.