Delhi Capitals had a special guest in Rishabh Pant at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday during their first home match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 against the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans. The DC regular skipper and wicketkeeper-batter is currently recovering from injuries that sustained in a car accident late last year. Pant could be seen arriving at the venue in a car and then slowly walked towards the stand. Later, he was photographed watching the match from the stands.
Watch: Rishabh Pant Attends Delhi Capitals' First IPL 2023 Home Match
In the opening game against Lucknow Super Giants, the DC team had hung their skipper's jersey No. 17 on the roof of the dug-out as a gesture that he is "always with the team in spirit". However, an IPL source told news agency PTI that it has been made clear from the BCCI's end that such a gesture seemed a "bit over the top" and was at one level "uncalled for".
"It seemed a bit over the top. Such a gesture is reserved in case of ultimate tragedy or retirement. In this case, it was neither. Rishabh is well and truly on his way to recovery faster than one expected. So while it was done with a noble intention, it is learnt that BCCI has politely told the franchise to avoid such gesture in future," the IPL source said.
It is understood that it was head coach Ricky Ponting's idea to display Pant's jersey from the dug-out. The Delhi Capitals will be honouring Pant by inscribing his jersey number on all the players during one of the games when the team will wear a different colour. However, the jersey number will be inscribed in one corner and it will not be an infringement with the players' individual jersey numbers.
"Every season, DC wears a different jersey during one particular game. In that game, everyone will have Pant's jersey number inscribed on their jerseys. However there is specific rule for logo and it will be a small inscription in one corner," the source said.
In their campaign opener against Lucknow Super Giants, DC had lost by 50 run.
With PTI inputs