Will Rishabh Pant be the vice-captain of the Indian Test team for the England tour? His name is being floated by a section of the media. RevSportz, however, has learnt that nobody – chief selector Ajit Agarkar or head coach Gautam Gambhir – has spoken to him about this yet. The captaincy, too, is not an open-and-shut case, although Shubman Gill remains the frontrunner. The appointment of the deputy-skipper offers greater intrigue.
On the face of it, Pant should have been a stronger contender for captaincy by virtue of his seniority and pedigree as a Test cricketer. For example, Gill averages below 30 on the road in red-ball cricket. Pant, on the other hand, boasts an overseas Test average of 37.59. The left-hand batter has six centuries under his belt, and four of them have been scored away from home. He also has six half-centuries in overseas conditions, with his match-winning 89 not out at the Gabba in 2020-21 being the most memorable yet. He made his Test debut in 2018, two years prior to Gill playing his first game for India in the flannels. Also, at 27, Pant is still young, and a more established Test cricketer than his nearest competitor.
But there’s a school of thought that following Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement, Gill could be a long-term solution to India’s Test captaincy void. Also, the 25-year-old reportedly has Gambhir’s backing.
As for Pant, he is now basically a one-format cricketer. In T20Is, he has lost his place to Sanju Samson, while in ODIs, he was the team’s back-up wicketkeeper-batsman in the Champions Trophy and KL Rahul was the first choice. Pant didn’t get a game during India’s title-winning campaign.
Despite his Rs 27-crore price tag in the IPL, Pant’s white-ball record so far has been underwhelming. In Tests, however, he is a different beast. Yes, barring his scintillating 61 off 33 balls on a treacherous SCG pitch in the final Test, his batting was a letdown in Australia, a series where he was expected to be the team’s X-factor. A lot of times, he fell prey to poor shot selection, finding himself at the receiving end of Sunil Gavaskar’s “stupid, stupid, stupid” ire on one occasion.
After his reckless shot cost India the Melbourne Test, Rohit Sharma, India’s captain in that series, gave a blunt take at a press conference. “Obviously he (Pant) needs to understand what is required from himself,” said Rohit. “More than any of us telling him, it’s about him understanding and figuring out what’s the right way to go about it. In the past, he has given us a lot of success doing what he does. As a captain, there’s a kind of mixed reaction to that.”
It’s not known if Gambhir, probably India’s first cricket coach with football-style managerial authority, was in sync with Pant’s approach. Also, only insiders will know if the player is feeling a bit of pressure under the current set-up. But the odds (if any) notwithstanding, Pant will have to brave it in the five-Test series against England.
Maybe, the selectors missed a trick by not including him in the India A side. Even if Lucknow Super Giants qualify for the IPL playoffs, Pant could have joined the ‘A’ squad from the second game onwards, a la Gill and Sai Sudharsan. Runs in a first-class fixture might have helped Pant regain his mojo and confidence on the heels of a poor IPL.
Pant is an automatic pick in the Test side. But things can change quickly. His record in England is pretty impressive – 556 runs in nine Tests at an average of 32.70, including two hundreds. But given the backdrop, a time when even the superstars could no longer rest easy on their past laurels, the upcoming series is going to be his biggest test. Vice-captain or not, Pant will have to let his bat do the talking.