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India’s explosive wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant is set to feature in the Duleep Trophy 2024 season which starts on September 5. Pant will be playing under the captaincy of Abhimanyu Easwaran in Team B which came as a surprise to many considering the experience of Pant at the international level. 

Captaining Team A is India’s current white-ball cricket vice-captain Shubhman Gill while Ruturaj Gaikwad has been handed the responsibilities of Team C and Shreyas Iyer of Team D. 

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Former cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra in particular was taken aback by the decision to not appoint Pant Team B’s skipper ahead of the inexperienced Easwaran. The commentator stated he was a bit startled with the decision. 

Pant had been India’s No. 1 wicket keeper in Test cricket before his unfortunate accident in December 2022. He was sidelined from playing any form of cricket until the IPL season 2024, wherein he made a stunning comeback as the skipper of Delhi Capitals (DC). 

His performances in the IPL earned him a place in the squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup wherein he once again impressed as India went all the way to lift the trophy in Barbados. 

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What did Aakash Chopra say about Rishabh Pant?

Although Chopra was fine with appointing Easwaran as the skipper, he was surprised with the fact that he was ahead of Pant in pecking order. Chopra mentioned that it wasn’t long before Pant was leading the race to become India’s Test captain along with Rohit Sharma before his unfortunate accident. 

Rishabh Pant is not a captain. He has been selected in Abhimanyu Easwaran's team. He is playing under Abhimanyu Easwaran's captaincy, which is absolutely okay. However, is Rishabh Pant not even a candidate for Test captaincy? I am a little surprised. 

I am not aligned with this personally because the best avatar of Rishabh Pant you have seen is as a Test cricketer. He is the only wicketkeeper in the history of Indian cricket who has scored centuries in South Africa, England and Australia in Test matches. 

The decision to not appoint Pant as captain could also be to relieve the 26-year-old from any captaincy duties and let him focus on his explosive style of cricket. Pant is one of those few Indian players who has scored centuries in three of the four SENA nations.

India are set to take on Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in November. The Men in Blue will travel to Australia for a five-match Test series. Last time India visited Australia, Pant became the hero in the final Test match of the four-match series as he played a blistering knock of 88 runs to clinch the series 2-1 for India at the Gabba. 

Pant's Test career
MatchesInningsRunsAverageHSSR
3356227143.67159*73.63

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Author(s)
Rahul Chalke Photo

Rahul is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.