IPL 2024: Pant rides on range of emotions as he gears up for his first match

Rishabh Pant is experiencing an entire gamut of emotions from nervousness to excitement as he gears up for his first competitive game in nearly 15 months when he leads Delhi Capitals DC in their IPL opener against Punjab Kings PBKS here on SaturdayComing back after a painstakingly long rehab following a horrific car crash in December 2022 Pant feels grateful to be back on the 22yard stripldquoJittery nervous excitedall of it but at the same time just happy being able to come back to professional cricket Irsquom just looking forward to playing my first game tomorrow Saturdayrdquo Pant said ahead of his teamrsquos first match of the seasonThe ace rsquokeeperbatter knows that it will take time to get back to his old self and he wants to take one day at a time with extended batting sessions at the DC nets as that will give him a better chance to execute his wide range of strokesAlso Read Like Knights Sunrisers are living in hopelsquoWant to bat for longrsquoldquoEvery time I take the field itrsquos a different feeling altogether I think as a batter as long as I can bat It is better because the more I bat I will be in a better position to execute shots muscle memory is intact even though I havenrsquot played for nearly a year and halfrdquo the swashbuckling batter saidldquoBut I have been playing since childhood so it doesnrsquot go away that easily So the more I practice the better chance I will give myself as a cricketerrdquo he addedIt is not yet clear whether Pant will start his keeping duties immediately In case he doesnrsquot DC will fall back on either West Indian Shai Hope or South Africarsquos Tristan StubbsDC have a potent fast bowling arsenal backed up by an explosive batting lineupAlso Read IPL 2024 CSK start on a positive note defeats RCB by 6 wickets in the season openerWarner who recently retired from the Test cricket will be hoping to make a mark and secure a spot in the T20 World Cupbound Australian side In Prithvi Shaw Mitchell Marsh Pant and Stubbs DC have explosive batting lineup while their bowling attack will be led by Anrich Nortje in the company of Indian veteran Ishant Sharma Mukesh Kumar Kuldeep Yadav and Axar PatelThe Punjab trophy cabinet is empty too They have made it to the final only once in 2014 losing to Kolkata Knight Riders on that occasionAfter finishing sixth for four consecutive seasons between 2019 and 2022 PBKS dropped to eighth in 2023 and will look to turn things around this timeDhawan has a point to proveIn Shikhar Dhawan PBKS have a skipper who would be desperate to prove a point after being sidelined from the national setupPBKS have a new vicecaptain in Jitesh Sharma but Jonny Bairstowrsquos form would be a concernThe side have some feisty allrounders in Sikandar Raza Sam Curran Liam Livingstone and Rishi Dhawan while the bowling attack will be led by Kagiso Rabada in the company of Arshdeep Singh Harshal Patel and Nathan EllisBut they have rarely come together as a unit to go the distance making Delhi the favourites for the day gameThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever