IPL 2024: Ganguly Backs Pant, "Young Captain Will Learn From His Experiences"

Delhi Capitals beat Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday night to keep themselves mathematically alive in the race for the IPL 2024 playoffs, but they need plenty of other results to go their way to ensure a top-four finish. DC have won seven matches and lost as many with Rishabh Pant, their regular skipper, as he missed the entire season after recovering from injuries sustained in a horrific car accident.

DC Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly says Pant is an 'instinctive captain' and expects him to get better with time.

"Pant is a young captain, he will learn with time," Ganguly said on JioCinema. “The way he came back from injury to play a full season; We had doubts during the offseason. Indian players are crucial, especially since the IPL has shifted to 10 teams. I'm very happy for him that he came back to play so well in a full season. “I wish him all the best for whatever lies ahead. He will become a better captain with time. No one is a great captain from day one, but he is an instinctive captain, he takes decisions on the ground. With more time, it will get better,” he added. Ganguly named Mukesh Kumar as DC's bowler of the season. The right-arm pacer took 17 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 21.36 and an economy of 10.36.

“Mukesh has been our best bowler this season. He bowls all the difficult overs, whether at the start or at the death. There hasn't been a match this season where we haven't needed his bowling in the death. We knew accepting sixes would hurt more, so he consistently delivered there. Our Indian bowlers have been superb this season,” he said.

The emergence of young batsmen Jack Fraser-McGurk and Tristan Stubbs are two big positives for DC.

While Fraser-McGurk provided a blazing start at the top, Stubbs proved his ability to consistently go berserk in the slog overs, often putting the finishing touches to the innings.

"Both (Fraser-McGurk and Stubbs) players are really young, one is 22 and the other is 23," Ganguly said. “This was the first year where both the players played a full IPL season and both showed incredible improvement. I hadn't seen much of Jack before, but I had seen Stubbs. Both the players have improved a lot and in this situation, it is not easy to find foreign players in the middle order as the wicket is slow and the ball spins. Stubbs plays spin really well, so that's valuable for us."