Rishabh Pant Leads Delhi Capitals Against Punjab Kings in IPL Opener

When Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings play their opening IPL match here on Saturday, the attention will be on Rishabh Pant's tenacious comeback to the cricket field in a variety of roles. Both clubs are looking to get over the disappointment of their disappointing results from the previous season.

Pant's incredible escape from a potentially fatal vehicle accident in December 2022 has evolved into a story of tenacity as the powerful wicketkeeper-batter recovered more quickly than anticipated to return to action.

After David Warner, who guided DC to a ninth-place result in the 10-team competition the previous year, was relieved of his captaincy, he is now permitted to play as a keeper-batter.

Pant has likely batted more in the past week than he did before to the majority of the IPLs. Before the game on Thursday at the recently built Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, DC coach Ricky Ponting stated, "I think from his point of view, he wants to get a bit of trust back in his body again."

Pant is finally prepared to lead DC once more after putting in fifteen months of bravery, hard work, and resolve. For a squad whose best-ever IPL performance to date is a runners-up finish in 2020, he is a huge boost.

Whether Pant will begin his keeping responsibilities right away is yet unknown. Should he fail to do so, DC will rely on either South Africa's Tristan Stubbs or West Indian Shai Hope.

DC has an excellent batting lineup to go along with their formidable quick bowling arsenal.

Warner, who just announced his retirement from Test cricket, will be looking to establish himself and earn a spot in Australia's T20 World Cup squad.

DC have an explosive batting lineup with Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Pant, and Stubbs. Anrich Nortje will front their bowling attack, which also includes Indian veteran Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel.

PBKS seeks to let go of the past

The trophy case in Punjab is also empty. They have only advanced to the championship game once, against the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014.

PBKS plummeted to eighth in 2023 after finishing sixth for four straight seasons between 2019 and 2022. This time, they hope to improve.

With Shikhar Dhawan as their captain, PBKS have a player who is driven to win after being left out of the national team.

Jitesh Sharma has been named vice captain of PBKS, but Jonny Bairstow's form raises questions.

Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, and Rishi Dhawan are some of the team's tough all-round players. Kagiso Rabada, along with Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, and Nathan Ellis, will front the bowling attack.

However, they haven't consistently performed well enough as a team to win the game, which puts Delhi as the favorites.

Teams (from): Axar Patel, Jake Fraser-cGurk, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Sumit Kumar, Abishek Porel, Kumar Kushagra, Rickey Bhui, Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Jhye Richardson, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Pravin Dubey, Rasikh Dar, Vicky Ostwal, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Sumit Kumar, Abishek Porel, Kumar Kushagra, Rickey Bhui, Shai Hope, and Tristan Stubbs.

Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Jitesh Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Harpreet Bhatia, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Chris Woakes, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, Tanay Thyagarajan, Atharva Taide, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahut Chahar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harshal Patel...

The game begins at 3:30 p.m. IST.

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