"Is Rishabh Pant not even a candidate for Test captaincy?" - Aakash Chopra on wicketkeeper not being made captain for Duleep Trophy
Aakash Chopra has questioned whether Rishabh Pant is not a candidate for India's future Test captaincy. He noted that the wicketkeeper-batter hasn't been chosen as one of the skippers for the upcoming Duleep Trophy.
The selectors announced the four teams for the tournament on Wednesday, August 14. Pant has been picked for Team B and will be playing under Abhimanyu Easwaran's captaincy.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed surprise about the selectors' decision.
"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," he said (3:25).
The former India opener pointed out that the destructive southpaw is most at home in the Test format.
"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," Chopra observed.
Chopra opined that Pant should have been chosen as one of the captains.
"Who else has done that? No one has. The way he plays in Test cricket and scores runs consistently, personally, in my opinion, he was a captaincy candidate. However, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and even Abhimanyu Easwaran are captains but Pant is not a captain, and that is a huge takeaway in my opinion," he elaborated.
Pant might not have been considered for captaincy in the Duleep Trophy because he will potentially not be available after the second game as he is likely to be picked in India's squad for the home Test series against Bangladesh. However, Shubman Gill, who too should get a place in India's Test squad, has been chosen as one of the skippers.
"I will be very curious to know what Gautam's opinion is with regards to Rishabh Pant the captain" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra stated he is keen to know Gautam Gambhir's views about Rishabh Pant's captaincy credentials.
"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. When the ODIs started (against Sri Lanka), he didn't play the first two matches, KL Rahul was playing, but Pant came in the last match," he explained in the same video (4:30).
The cricketer-turned-commentator also observed that KL Rahul has been picked to play under Shubman Gill in Team A, with Dhruv Jurel as the potential first-choice wicketkeeper in that side.
"Even for KL Rahul, the team he has been kept has Dhruv Jurel as the keeper and Shubman Gill is the captain of that side. So things have started becoming slightly clear that Indian cricket has started moving towards Shubman Gill. When KL Rahul has been picked in Dhruv Jurel's team, it means Dhruv Jurel will keep, so KL Rahul is no longer your Test keeper, which is also okay," Chopra stated.
Rahul is reportedly not in the Indian team management's scheme of things as a wicketkeeper in the longest format in subcontinental conditions. It remains to be seen if he is included in the Test squad as a specialist batter for the Bangladesh series.