In what comes as a big news for cricket fans and Delhi Capitals family especially, captain Rishabh Pant has been declared for to take part in the IPL 2024. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) has reportedly issued Pant a clearance certificate, paving the way for his inclusion in the tournament. Previous concerns surrounding Pant’s fitness status for IPL 2024 had surfaced, with reports suggesting the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had with held clearance due to fitness worries. Dainik Bhaskar had also reported Pant’s unavailability for IPL participation.
However, a recent report from SportsTak suggests that Pant has received the green light from the NCA, making his availability for IPL 2024 promising, which bodes well for both, Delhi Capitals and the Indian cricket team. With the T20 World Cup scheduled after IPL 2024, Pant’s potential availability could be crucial for team selection considerations.
DC’s director of cricket, Sourav Ganguly recently said that the team will not rush Rishabh Pant’s return in excitement.
“He has done everything to get fit and that’s the reason NCA will clear him. Let Rishabh get cleared on Mar 5 only then we’ll talk about captaincy backups. We are taking a cautious approach with him because he has a very long career ahead of him. We don’t want to push him in excitement. We will see how Rishabh reacts. He will be joining the camp once NCA gives him the clearance. We will see match by match. We can’t predict,” said Ganguly. (Rahul Dravid Names Greatest Six-Hitter India Has Produced; He Is Not MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh)
RISHABH PANT DECLARED FULLY FIT BY THE NCA… (Sports Tak). pic.twitter.com/glXdLBb7jb
Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 10, 2024
IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders Name Phil Salt As Replacement For Jason Roy
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have roped in English wicketkeeper batter Phil Salt as the replacement for Jason Roy ahead of the Indian Premier League (2024).
In a statement released by the IPL, it stated that Jason pulled himself out of the upcoming season of the T20 tournament due to “personal reasons”.
The statement also added that the 2024 season will be Salt’s second IPL after representing the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the previous year.
“Kolkata Knight Riders have named Phil Salt as a replacement for Jason Roy after the latter pulled out of the upcoming TATA IPL 2024 owing to personal reasons. Having remained unsold in the auction after representing the Delhi Capitals last year, this will be Salt’s second season in the IPL.”
It added that the Kolkata-based franchise bagged Salt for his reserve price of Rs 1.5 crore.
“Bought at his reserve price of INR 1.5 crore, the aggressive wicket-keeper batter from England scored two consecutive T20I centuries against the West Indies in December last year. His 48-ball century in the 4th T20I at Trinidad is also the joint-fastest for England,” it added.
In the previous season of the IPL, Salt represented the Delhi-based franchise, where he took part in nine matches in which he scored a total of 218 runs at a strike rate of 163.91. With star overseas players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Mitchell Starc available, along with a strong Indian core in Nitish Rana, skipper Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Charkavarthy, KKR will be aiming to do well in the IPL 2024.
Last season, they finished seventh with six wins and eight losses. 12 points were not enough to earn them a spot in the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2024 squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain.