"I want him sitting beside me in the dugout every day of the week," Ponting told the ICC review. "If he's actually not physically fit enough to play, we'd still love to have him around.

"He's the sort of cultural leader around the group, being the captain, and that attitude and infectious smile and laugh he has is what we all love so much about him.

"I'll certainly be making sure, come the middle of March when we get together in Delhi and start our camps and stuff, if he's able to be there, then I want him around the whole time."

Ponting also said that Capitals were searching for a wicketkeeper-batter to replace Pant, but stressed on how difficult that search could be.

Who can replace Pant?

"You can't replace those guys, simple as that," Ponting said. "They don't grow on trees, players like that. We've got to look at - and we already are - a replacement to come into the squad."

With the Pant-Ponting combination at the helm, Capitals finished fifth in IPL 2022 and lost in the second Qualifier in 2021. In 2020 they registered their best finish by being runners-up when Shreyas Iyer was captain. The 2023 edition is expected to start in March end - after the inaugural edition of the women's IPL - and will run through the months of April and May.