Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody has added that he didn’t expect Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant to keep wickets in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) as well. However, Pant returned to action in IPL 2024 following a long injury layoff after being faced with a horrific car crash in December 2022. He was cleared to play as a keeper-batter by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the ongoing edition as well.
Moody said to ESPNcricinfo: “I’m surprised he is keeping. If you’d asked me a month ago, I’d have thought he’d certainly start the first half of the IPL as a batter and the impact sub.”
However, he is yet to find his rhythm back and has looked like a pale version of his former self in the first two games so far. He registered scores of 18 (13) and 28 (26) against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), respectively. Meanwhile, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) traded Indian fast bowler Avesh Khan to Rajasthan in exchange for left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal as well. And, Tom Moody added that Avesh has benefited from changing teams as well.
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He added, “Avesh Khan is definitely the beneficiary (of the trade) because the trust was lost with him at LSG, and he’s gone to a side that needs his skillset. So, he is high on their agenda with regards to, ‘We need you as our death bowler, and you’re going to be one of our first picks, and that’s your role’. He’s knocking on a World Cup door. He’s ticking a critical box, and that is someone that can specialize at the end, and there’s not many bowlers who can do that. Bumrah is top of the pack, but he needs support.”
Meanwhile, Tom Moody believes that Delhi Capitals (DC) should go ahead with Prithvi Shaw over Ricky Bhui for their upcoming matches in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2024). However, Moody added that while Shaw has been performing poorly in the past few seasons, selecting him ahead of Bhui is a good option as well.
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“It doesn’t make sense due to the fact that you’ve got an Indian international player (Prithvi Shaw) in the dugout. Yes, he hasn’t performed in the IPL like we had all hoped he would, but you can’t score runs from the dugout,” Prithvi Shaw concluded. “That’s exactly what you’d like to see a genuine quick bowler to do. And to do it to a top order player is even more alarming. What it does also is highlight the jump between Ranji Trophy runs to international cricket and IPL.”
