Former BCCI selector Saba Karim said that he was hoping that Rishabh Pant would get the nod for the vice-captaincy role but the selectors thought otherwise. On Friday, BCCI announced an 18-man squad for an ODI series against South Africa with KL Rahul as captain and Jasprit Bumrah as his deputy. Notable that Rohit Sharma, who was appointed as a new white-ball captain for India, hasn’t recovered from his injury yet so he was unavailable for the tour.
Karim pointed out Rishabh Pant’s success as Delhi Capitals captain in IPL and also said that the wicketkeeper is a good reader of the game.
“I was extremely surprised, I was not expecting Jasprit Bumrah to be made the vice-captain. I was hoping that Rishabh Pant had more chances to be made the vice-captain because he is also a multi-format player, he plays all three formats. Pant’s performances as captain of the Delhi Capitals have been very good. We are seeing how he reads the match, he has a lot of game awareness,” Saba Karim said.
The former wicketkeeper also said that there is no doubt about Bumrah’s ability but he (Bumrah) never captained the side at any level. So that inexperience might be a hurdle if India sees him as a leader for the future.
“Jasprit Bumrah has the talent, his role is very important for the Indian team but he has not captained anywhere till now. So it is slightly surprising. I was feeling that Rishabh Pant was the first candidate as vice-captain.” he added
Rishabh Pant led Delhi Capitals in the last IPL season. Out of 16 games in the last season, Delhi Capitals won 7 games and lost 7 which includes 2 losses in the playoffs as they finished as table-topper in the league stage under his leadership.
He was stand-in captain as regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was recovering from the shoulder injury but with an exceptional record in the first half, the team management decided to stick with him even when Iyer made a comeback in the UAE leg.
The ODI series between India and South Africa will begin on January 19 at Paarl.
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