In a heartwarming tribute to their injured captain, Delhi Capitals attached a Rishabh Pant jersey to their dugout roof for their opening game of IPL 2023.
Pant has been sidelined for an indefinite period after being involved in a serious car accident last December. Delhi’s designated skipper has been replaced by David Warner for this year’s tournament.
Ahead of the season, coach Ricky Ponting had revealed that he wished to have Pant by his side in the dugout at some point, although he admitted it was a challenge logistically. He also said that the team will look to have a token or gesture of sorts on their kits to pay tribute to the cricketer.
For their first IPL 2023 game, against Lucknow Super Giants, the Capitals dugout featured a hung-down jersey of Pant, adorned with his name and his No.17.
Earlier, as a reply to a DC tweet revealing the day’s lineup, Pant had commented with: “I am 13th player coz of impact rule otherwise would have been 12th man (sic)”.
The move gained plenty of admiration on social media.
What a wonderful gesture by the Delhi Capitals to have Rishabh Pant's jersey displayed above their dugout! pic.twitter.com/x92tpFAH7d
— P C Mohan (Modi Ka Parivar) (@PCMohanMP) April 1, 2023
Jersey of Rishabh Pant in Delhi dugout.
A great gesture. 👏 pic.twitter.com/yzwwsxup8i
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 1, 2023
A heartwarming gesture by Delhi Capitals in their IPL clash against Lucknow Super Giants they hang Rishabh Pant's jersey in their dugout 💘#IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/Gz8dgzpYo9
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) April 1, 2023
Rishabh Pant's jersey in the Delhi Capitals' dugout. Great gesture. This dugout has stalwarts like Ponting, Watson and Ganguly present ❤️ #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/oSsf20y67W
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) April 1, 2023
A lovely picture – Rishabh Pant jersey in the dugout. pic.twitter.com/h1wnXgafsI
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 1, 2023
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