Rishabh Pant's middle-order experience can help him edge out Sanju Samson and become India's preferred wicketkeeper-batsman at the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States next month, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir said.
Samson was named in India's 15-man squad for the June 1-29 event in the West Indies and United States but the inclusion of Rishabh Pant means the 2007 champions have options as they bid for a second title.
Pant was involved in a near-fatal crash in December 2022 that required him to have multiple surgeries and he missed last year's Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as India's 50-overs World Cup campaign on home soil.
Mukesh Kumar kept his nerve in the final over for Delhi's fourth win in nine matches.
Pant is playing his first tournament since suffering serious injuries in a car accident in December 2022 that kept him out of last year's IPL as well as the 50-overs World Cup in India.
Rishabh Pant led from the front with his first IPL fifty since his comeback from a horror car crash as Delhi Capitals beat Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs on Sunday.
Pant suffered a horrific accident in December 2022 when his car hit a central divider.
The spotlight remained on India's Pant, 26, after the wicketkeeper-batsman took the field as captain of Delhi after 14 months away from top level cricket. "Really emotional time for me," Pant said at the toss after Delhi were invited to bat first.
The 17th edition of the world's richest cricket league is expected to end close to the June 1 start of the World Cup in the West Indies and United States.
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant said he gets goosebumps playing arch-rivals Pakistan, calling it "a different kind of feeling" to any other team.
The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry is once again back in the spotlight, as the two arch-rivals are set to lock horns in a much-awaited clash at the Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday in Dubai.
Hardik Pandya was glad to help fill the "very big shoes" of Jasprit Bumrah after starring with both bat and ball during India's series-clinching win over England.