Rishabh Pant watches Delhi Capitals' home opener from the stands

Delhi Capitals (DC) wicketkeeper-batter and regular captain Rishabh Pant was spotted in the stands at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi's home opener of IPL 2023 against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Tuesday (April 4).

Pant injured his knee and ligament in a horrific car accident in December of 2022, and is recovering after surgery. This was Pant's first public appearance since suffering the injury, and the 25-year-old was seen cheering on his team as they look to open their account in this year's IPL.

Ahead of the match, the Delhi Capitals' players wished Rishabh a speedy recovery in a video shared on the official IPL social media handle. David Warner, who has been named captain in Pant's absence, has been outspoken about how the team wants to do well for the injured Pant in the ongoing season.

Here is a picture of Rishabh Pant watching the match from the stands.

Delhi Capitals lost their opening match by 50 runs to the Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow.

"Going to be a few harsh calls" - Delhi Capitals Skipper David Warner at the toss

David Warner was hopeful of DC coming back after their opening match defeat.

Delhi Capitals captain David Warner lost the toss and was put into bat by Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya. Abhishek Porel, Rishabh Pant's replacement, was drafted into the Capitals' playing XI along with South African speedster Anrich Nortje.

Speaking at the toss, Warner asserted the need for his team to play with positive intent. He was also upfront on how there could be harsh calls on dropping players since it's a long tournament. Warner said:

"Looks like a nice wicket. We have to come out with positive intent and put up a good score. Hopefully, we can put up a good score for the crowd. Rovman is out. Abiskeh Porel comes on. Having another left-hander is crucial. It's a long tournament, going to be a few harsh calls. We need to bat better, bowl better and field better than the opposition.

Warner's opposite number, Hardik Pandya, spoke at the toss on the team winning the opening game despite not playing their best cricket. He said:

"Losing Kane, we are gutted as a team but more for him. We have to move on and Miller comes back for Kane, and Sai Sudharsan comes in for Vijay Shankar. We didn't play our best cricket, but we still won in the first game. We just tried to keep things simple. That's something we are focusing on.

Gujarat Titans won their opening game at home against the Chennai Super Kings by five wickets with four balls to spare.

At the time of writing, the Delhi Capitals are struggling at 108-5 in the 14th over with Sarfaraz Khan and Axar Patel at the crease.