Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday said that young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant can be the ideal candidate to lead India in Test cricket.
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Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday said that Rishabh Pant can be the ideal candidate to lead India in Test cricket. His comments came after Virat Kohli decided to step down as captain. Kohli left everyone surprised with his sudden decision to give up the Test captaincy soon after India lost the Test series to South Africa.
While speaking to India Today Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai, Sunil Gavaskar said that he has been impressed with the way Rishabh Pant is handling the responsibility. As an example, he shared how Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi took over as India’s captain at a very early age. And later also achieved a lot of success.
However, Virat Kohli had stepped down from the T20 captaincy last year and was sacked from the ODI captaincy. With his decision, Kohli ended his term as the most successful skipper in Tests as well. Notably, Rohit Sharma replaced Kohli and was appointed as the captain of the T20 team and ODI team as well. Sharma replaced Ajinkya Rahane and was appointed as the Test vice-captain as well.
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“It’s going to be quite a debate as far as the selection committee is concerned as to who should be taking Indian cricket forward. First of all, it should be someone who is an automatic pick across all formats of the game. Once that happens, it will be a lot easier,” Gavaskar said. “If you ask me, I am still staying, I would look at Rishabh Pant as next India captain.”
“For one reason only, just like Rohit Sharma was given the captaincy of Mumbai Indians when Ricky Ponting stepped down, look at the change in his batting after that. Suddenly the responsibility of being captain made him convert those beautiful cameos of 30s, 40s and 50s into hundreds, 150s and 200s. I think that sense of responsibility given to Rishabh Pant will help him score many more of that wonderful hundred he scored at Newlands,” Sunil Gavaskar further added.
Gavaskar also explained why the responsibility can be handled by someone as young as Rishabh Pant in the longer format as well.
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“Yes, I am saying that. Tiger Pataudi was captain at the age of 21 under adverse circumstances when Nari Contractor was injured. Look what he did after that. He took to captaincy like duck to water. I think what we have seen with Rishabh Pant as the captain of Delhi Capitals in the IPL, I do believe he has the capability of taking Indian cricket forward and making it a very exciting team to watch,” he again shared.
However, Virat Kohli took over the reins from MS Dhoni as India’s Test captain midway during a Test series in 2014-15 after Dhoni retired. Kohli, however, helped India regain the No. 1 spot in ICC Test rankings and reach the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship in 2021 as well. Although they lost to New Zealand, under Kohli, India never lost a Test series at home.
They won their first-ever Test series in Australia and became one of the strongest teams to beat as well.
