Rishabh Pant will make it to World Cup squad, says confident DC coach Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals (DC), who came to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 with a renewed vigour to change the fortunes, suffered one of their most shocking defeats against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Mohali on Monday. Chasing 167 to win, the DC were comfortably placed at 144 for 3 but once their highest scorer Rishabh Pant was dismissed for 39, the floodgates were open and Shreyas Iyer’s side were bowled out for 152, losing by 14 runs.

Pant started off the season with a bang, hitting 78 not out in just 27 balls against Mumbai Indians to see his side winning the game by 37 runs. He though hasn’t been in as murderous a form in the next three games out of which the DC lost two, their coach Ricky Ponting feels the young keeper-batsman has a good chance of making India’s squad for the ICC World Cup starting next month.

Pant’s chances looked to have been clouded after his shoddy show with the gloves against Australia in the home series last month but now with 153 runs in four games in the IPL at an average of 51, Pant has not only evolved as one of the Capitals’ major hopes for the season but also a front-runner for a WC berth.

Pant was picked ahead of the experienced Dinesh Karthik for the Australia series but his show with the gloves irked the fans and voices grew stronger to drop him. The race is on for the position of the second keeper for the WC as Mahendra Singh Dhoni is already a certainty as the main gloveman.

‘I will still keep him in WC squad’

“If you are talking about Rishabh, I will still keep him in that World Cup squad. All he can do is score runs in the IPL. First score runs in the IPL and then give yourself a chance to get picked in that squad,” the two-time World Cup-winning former Australian captain was quoted as saying by Times Now. Ponting also divulged his way of dealing with the 21-year-old’s insecurities.

The Indian squad for the WC will picked on or before April 20, as chief selector MSK Prasad has said recently which means the IPL will be still underway when the players are named.

[interaction id=”5ca37e1e4869a83ec1d1f03c”]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.