Captaincy will make Pant a better player: Ponting

'It's well deserved for his recent performances and he's coming in with a lot of confidence.'

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting is convinced that the responsibility of captaincy will make swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant an even better player in the upcoming IPL.

Pant was named the captain of Delhi Capitals for the 14th edition of Indian Premier League, starting on April 9, after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the tournament because of injury.

"Unfortunate that Shreyas will miss the tournament, but looking forward to seeing @RishabhPant17 grab his opportunity. It's well deserved for his recent performances and he's coming in with a lot of confidence. I'm convinced captaincy will make him an even better player," Ponting tweeted.

The highly-rated Pant has been in sensational form across formats this year. He played match-winning knocks of 97 and unbeaten 89 in the third and the fourth Test against Australia to help India win their second consecutive Test series Down Under.

He followed that up with a brilliant century against England in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, forcing the selectors to include him in the white-ball squads.

Making a comeback into the Indian white-ball side, Pant was promoted to No. 4 in the series against England, and the 23-year-old did not disappoint with a couple of quickfire half-centuries.

This will be the first time that Pant will take over as captain in the IPL. He has led Delhi in domestic cricket in the past.