All-rounder Axar Patel will step into the captain’s shoes when Delhi Capitals square off against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. As Rishabh Pant has been handed a one-match suspension, Axar will lead DC in his absence in the team’s penultimate league-stage game.
Addressing the pre-match presser on Saturday, head coach Ricky Ponting confirmed that Axar will lead DC against the Royal Challengers as Pant serves the 1-match ban, imposed by the match referee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct.
“Axar Patel will be our captain tomorrow. He’s obviously been the vice-captain of the franchise for the last couple of seasons. Very experienced IPL player, a very experienced international player. Very sensible guy, understands the game very well. He’s really excited about it, to be honest,” Ponting said.
“We started talking about it a couple of days ago about the possibility that Rishabh (Pant) might be banned. He’s got his head around it. We have done our bowlers meetings today, he’ll catch up with all the guys tonight, go through all the plans and make sure he’s ready to lead the team tomorrow,” he added.
Sanction to Rishabh Pant
Along with the ban, Pant has also been slapped with a hefty fine for his offence. DC were found to have maintained a slow over-rate during their IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on May 7.
“As it was his team’s third offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Rishabh Pant was fined Rs 30 lakh and suspended for one match,” the IPL said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
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The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either Rs 12 lakh or 50 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser,” the statement read.
DC had filed an appeal challenging the ruling of the match referee Daniel Manohar. The matter was then referred to the BCCI Ombudsman for review.
After conducting a virtual hearing, the Ombudsman affirmed that the decision of the match referee remains final and binding.
Pant, DC head coach Ricky Ponting, and Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly were present for the hearing which BCCI CEO Hemang Amin and the match referee also attended.
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