Wickt-keeper batter Rishabh Pant will find it “very difficult” to be at his best at the beginning of the IPL but legendary Sunil Gavaskar expected that his knees will react better once he starts batting more and more in the upcoming IPL. Having survived a horrific car accident in December 2022, Pant will return to action after more than 14 months as Delhi Capitals captain after an extensive rehabilitation program as well.

“It’ll be very difficult. But the good thing is he (Pant) has played some cricket. So he has got some practice. To get fluency in batting is a little tough,” Gavaskar told ‘Star Sports’. “When you talk of a knee injury, the pivoting that takes place. Wicket-keeping is difficult as well, but even in batting, the knee is quite important. So, maybe, in the beginning, we won’t see the real Rishabh Pant that we are used to.”

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant’s presence and his jolly nature also help the team, Gavaskar admitted.

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“To find a wicket-keeper like him who comments from behind the stumps, that’s full-on entertainment because there are a lot of wicket-keepers who would like to disturb your concentration by saying different things. But Rishabh Pant has the ability to say such a thing that whoever he is targeting, they also laugh, they also enjoy it. But when enjoying it, their concentration goes down a bit, right? The advantage is for his team then.”

However, Sunil Gavaskar is also interested in how Shubman Gill’s maiden captaincy stint will turn out with Gujarat as he is all set to lead the franchise after Hardik Pandya’s return to Mumbai Indians.

“That is going to be the most important thing: the way he can handle the captaincy. Will it affect and impact his batting? And the second thing is there is a commonality in our initials; both of us are SG’s, and if we go even further, my initials are SMG, and he has Shubh-Man Gill in his name,” he concluded.