LSG vs CSK: MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, and Dinesh Karthik kicked aside as Australian legend named the best wicketkeeper

Delhi Capitals' Australian bowling coach James Hopes might have given team India's selection committee and the coaching staff, a major boost with his comments about franchise captain Rishabh Pant.

Hopes, who represented the Delhi-based franchise in 2011, has claimed that Pant is not only batting well but he is also keeping the wickets and captaining the team, extremely well in IPL 2024.

It is very good news from the Indian team's perspective and for their aim to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies. 

Rishabh Pant is currently on his comeback IPL season following a lengthy recovery lay-off which saw him remain out of competitive cricket action for almost 2 years.

Pant had suffered a horrific and life-threatening car crash in December 2022, from which he was very lucky to come out alive. The first few pictures of the car that was crashed, depicted the severity of the accident and gave a glimpse of the fatal injuries that Pant had endured. 

Luckily, he just went through a series of surgeries and nothing more but Rishabh Pant's return to the cricket field would not have been possible very soon.

But by late November, reports started to circulate that Pant will be staging his comeback through IPL 2024, and after the NCA gave him the fitness clearance certificate, the left-hand batter was ready to rock.

He made his much-awaited return during DC's season opener against the Punjab Kings at the Mullanpur stadium.

On his return, Pant scored 18 runs and Capitals might have lost the match eventually but the good news for all Indian fans was that Pant is back, doing the thing he loves the most. 

What did James Hopes say about Rishabh Pant? 

While speaking to media reporters last night after the Delhi Capitals defeated Gujarat Titans by 6-wickets, Jame Hopes gave his honest opinion about Rishabh Pant.

The former Australia all-rounder first mentions the problem that Delhi faced last season due to his absence. Hopes stated that Delhi had tried to get a cover player for him but admitted that replacing a world-class wicketkeeper like him was very tough. 

Hopes then expressed his opinion on Rishabh Pant this season. The former said that Pant is playing very well at the moment, his keeping, batting, and captaincy, too, have become sharp with time.

"He is pretty good. Last year, we tried really hard to cover that gap. But it is very hard to cover a world-class wicketkeeper, if not the best wicketkeeper-batter in the world. Now he is back, you can see everything about his game, his keeping, his captaincy is becoming very sharp, his batting is pretty good from the start of the tournament. - Hopes said after the match. 

Delhi jump from 9th to 6th in the points table

Meanwhile, with their biggest win by balls against Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals jumped 3 places higher from 9th to 6th with their 6-wicket win at the Narendra Modi stadium. A total of 67 balls were left before the visitors registered their 3rd victory of the season.