"I've seen a lot of reports about it,” Ponting told the ICC. “Normally these things pop up on social media before you even know about them, but there were a few little one-on-one conversations during the IPL, just to get a level of interest from me as to whether I would do it," said Ponting.

Rishabh Pant's middle-order experience can help him edge out Sanju Samson and become India's preferred wicketkeeper-batsman at the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States next month, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir said.

Lucknow have their hopes hanging by a thread.

Bengaluru, who moved to fifth, have mounted a late charge to make the play-offs but will need to win their last league match and other results to go in their favour to be in the top four.

The rule, which was introduced to the tournament last season, allows teams to bring in one substitute at any time for a player in the starting 11.

Australia's Jake Fraser-McGurk smashed 84 off 27 deliveries to fire Delhi Capitals to 257-4 and a 10-run win over Mumbai Indians in another IPL high-scorer on Saturday.

Mukesh Kumar kept his nerve in the final over for Delhi's fourth win in nine matches.

Jake Fraser-McGurk went unsold at auction but the young Australian was snapped up by Delhi Capitals as an injury replacement and has become one of the stories of the current IPL.

Mitchell Marsh will miss the remainder of the Delhi Capitals campaign due to a hamstring injury, but franchise head coach Ricky Ponting expects him to be fit in time for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma said his good off-field bond with Australian opener Travis Head had translated into a successful partnership at the top of the order after the pair put Delhi Capitals to the sword in the Indian Premier League.

"On a bit of a roll there," Head said of his form after he took second place in the batting chart with 324 runs including a century and two fifties. "Enjoyable, boys are on a roll."

Pant is playing his first tournament since suffering serious injuries in a car accident in December 2022 that kept him out of last year's IPL as well as the 50-overs World Cup in India.

The 32-year-old, who is widely expected to captain Australia in the showpiece event in the U.S. and West Indies, sat out Delhi's last two IPL games against Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants.

The left-arm wristspinner, almost certain to be part of the India squad for the T20 World Cup in June, missed Delhi's previous three matches with a groin injury.

Fraser-McGurk, who went unsold in the IPL auction but came in as a replacement for Lungi Ngidi,

Romario Shepherd smashed 32 runs off the 20th over for Mumbai Indians to set up their first victory of this IPL season as they beat Delhi Capitals by 29 runs on Sunday.

Sunil Narine smashed 85 to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to the second-best ever IPL total of 272-7 in a crushing 106-run victory over Delhi Capitals on Wednesday.

Bangladesh and Chennai Super Kings pacer Mustafizur Rahman bagged one wicket in the IPL game against Delhi Capitals on Sunday, and in the process achieved a rare milestone.

Pant suffered a horrific accident in December 2022 when his car hit a central divider.

The spotlight remained on India's Pant, 26, after the wicketkeeper-batsman took the field as captain of Delhi after 14 months away from top level cricket. "Really emotional time for me," Pant said at the toss after Delhi were invited to bat first.