“Not even a candidate…”: Ex-India star questions BCCI’s decision on Rishabh Pant

The BCCI on August 14 named the squads for the first round of Duleep Trophy 2024-25. With the 4-team tournament set to start on September 5, India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be marking his return to red-ball cricket. Pant has been picked in ‘Team B’ and the point to note here is that he has not been named the captain of the side. Instead, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been assigned the duty to lead the team.

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned BCCI’s move regarding Pant as he was earlier seen as the successor to Rohit Sharma in Test captaincy.

“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,” Aakash Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“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 way he plays in Test cricket and the consistency with which he scores, he was the captaincy candidate in my opinion,” he added.

Chopra also stated that he is curious to know what decision will be taken by the new head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir with regards to make Pant the captain.

“A new era has started. So I will be very curious to know what Gautam’s opinion is with regards to Rishabh Pant the captain,” Chopra further added.

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