Can Rishabh Pant becomes new captain of team India?

Swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has grown in stature in the last 1-2 years especially after his scintillating Knock of unbeaten 91 runs to ensure India register victory and series by 2-1 against Australia twice to retain Border Gavaskar Trophy. That victory was extremely special on Brisbane as Australia didn’t lose a single test match for 33 years until India broke the ice.

Pant was also criticized in the past for his average wicketkeeping but not only Delhi born player has improved his power-hitting skills his wicketkeeping has also improved a lot.  He has become a regular member of the India national squad across all formats.

Former India middle-order batsman has praised Pant and thinks that the latter has matured as a cricketer and he is the perfect choice to lead India in the future.

“I see someone, Rishabh Pant, who like Adam Gilchrist who can change the course of the game. Gilchrist changed the course of the game in Test cricket when he came onto the scene. And I feel Rishabh can do the same.

“I also see Rishabh as a potential Indian captain. Because he is jumpy, chirpy, and talks around. But I feel he surely has a smart brain as well because I saw him when he was captaining in the IPL for Delhi Capitals. He did an incredible job. So, people should look at him as the next captain of the Indian team in the coming years,” said Yuvraj Singh in a chat with the Times of India.

He was a member of the Indian test squad that played against England for five-match Test series starting from July 23^rd, 2021. With Rohit Sharma likely to take over white ball captaincy from Virat Kohli and considering his age he can ideally play for another 2-3 years and someone like Pant can be groomed as vice-captain under Rohit’s tenure and accordingly he can learn the nuances of captaincy with time. His experience of leading Delhi Capitals must have played an important role in grooming him as skipper as if he maintains his form he can ideally go on to replicate MS Dhoni who has been an exceptional leader and player for India for more than 15 years.