Rishabh Pant, who served as the captain of Delhi Capitals (DC) in the last two seasons will be expected to miss the entire season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as he has suffered gruesome injuries in a car crash. This leaves Delhi –who had built their team around Rishabh– in jeopardy as the franchise now has two holes to fill; they need a wicket-keeper as well as a skipper.
As per the latest reports of Times of India, 36-year-old Kangaroo opener, David Warner has been confirmed to captain Delhi Capitals in Pant’s absence. Notably, David Warner is a proven leader under who’s reign Sunrisers Hyderabad had won their sole IPL trophy (2016). Having compatriots Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson as coaches (and his experience) might have helped Warner assume the role ahead of his dashing Delhi opening partner Prithvi Shaw.
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Interestingly, this will be the first time David Warner will be leading a team after his infamous row with Cricket Australia (CA) over his captaincy status in international cricket.
Meanwhile, Mumbai-born Sarfaraz Khan will be expected to perform the wicket-keeping duties. Though Sarfaraz Khan is not a regular keeper, Delhi wants to have an Indian player as their wicketkeeper since playing an overseas man behind the sticks would disrupt the team combination.
Delhi Capitals do have a quality-keeping option in England’s Phil Salt but accommodating him will be an issue with captain David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rehman, and Rovman Powell already in the mix.
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In other development surrounding Delhi Capitals, former BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly will be serving as their Director of Cricket across all T20 leagues. Sourav will control team proceedings for Delhi in IPL, Pretoria Capitals in SA20 and Dubai Capitals in International League T20. He had earlier served as Delhi’s head coach back in 2019.
