Rishabh Pant Replaces Gautam Gambhir As Delhi Skipper
Feb 10, 2017 at 9:44 AM
In a surprising move, 19-year old Rishabh Pant has replaced veteran batsman Gautam Gambhir as the Delhi skipper in the upcoming edition of Vijay Hazare trophy.
The youngster, who recently made his T20I debut during the England series, has played in the domestic circuit for only a couple of years having made his debut in 2015 and enjoyed a breakout season in the last edition of the Ranji Trophy. With 972 runs from only eight outings, the left-handed batsman was Delhi’s highest run-getter in country’s premier first-class tournament. The year also saw him registering his name in the record books by scoring a triple-hundred against Maharashtra and a blistering 48-ball hundred against Jharkhand.
But records apart, it is very clear that the Delhi selectors – Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra, Robin Singh- are keen to gamble on a youngster.
Speaking to PTI, Nikhil Chopra said:
“Frankly Vijay Hazare is the last tournament of the season and this was an ideal opportunity for us to see who is the best candidate to lead the state side. We were not finding anyone all these years who could replace Gautam.
“The Hazare Trophy gives us opportunity to test Rishabh’s captaincy skills and with Gautam and other seniors around, he will get ample guidance from Gautam. Obviously Atul (Wassan) has spoken to Gautam and he has been taken into confidence,” Chopra concluded.