IPL 2023: Rishabh Pant's jersey hanging in Delhi Capitals' dugout ahead of their opening game takes internet by storm

Delhi Capitals had a huge blow for the IPL 2023 when their star batter and leader Rishabh Pant got ruled out of the season. Pant survived a horrific accident in December 2022 and couldn’t recover in time to mark his presence in the lucrative tournament. However, the Delhi Capitals didn’t leave any stone unturned to pay their respect to the missing player in their opening game against Lucknow Super Giants at Ekana Stadium.

Ahead of the clash between the two sides, Pant’s jersey could be seen hanging in DC’s dugout. The DC’s gesture certainly took the internet by storm and fans flooded Twitter with good wishes for the recovering player. It is to be noted that DC head coach Ricky Ponting had already stated earlier that replacing Pant is nearly ‘impossible’ for them.

"He’s a huge loss and it doesn’t matter who we bring in in that role, we will still miss Rishabh. I am not going to try and gloss over that fact, he’s one of the best players in the world in all three formats and he’s obviously our leader. So, trying to replace him is pretty much impossible. But what we try to do at DC is make sure we have got the best young talent available and get to work on them for a couple of years and make them better and we have got a few of them now," said Ponting as quoted by Times Now.

Ponting, who has developed a great camaraderie with Pant, also stated earlier that there are thoughts about printing Pant's jersey no. 17 on players' caps and jerseys. Ponting added that the idea would let others feel that the injured player is one of the most important members of the side.

“I have spoken to him quite a bit over the last four-five months. He has a long road back, but we want to try and involve him as much as we can. In an ideal world, he’d be sitting next to me in the dugout every match. But if that’s not possible, we’d like to think of little ways we might include him, have his number on our shirts or caps — just so the players understand he’s the heart and soul of DC and also for fans, to show how much he’s a part of us,” Ponting added.