Legendary India batsman Sunil Gavaskar is mighty impressed with Rishabh Pant’s captaincy in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Gavaskar said the Delhi Capitals captain showed spark of what can turn into a roaring fire as far captaincy is concerned.
Gavaskar added that Rishabh Pant was tactically good and he managed to combine it with his street-smart approach to impress on his debut as captain in the IPL. Pant was appointed as captain of Delhi Capitals after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of IPL 2021 with a shoulder injury.
Pant was in prime form with the bat for India since the start of the Australia tour and he was rewarded for the resurgence with Delhi captaincy. Pant impressed right from the word go and helped Delhi finish on top of the IPL 2021 points table at the halfway mark before the tournament was suspended due to positive Covid-19 cases in bio-bubbles of multiple franchises.
“The standout team Delhi Capitals under young Rishabh Pant. By the sixth game, one could see that he was getting tired of being asked about being captain. Every presenter at the post-game ceremony had the same question to him,” Gavaskar wrote for Sportstar.
“What he showed was a spark that can become a roaring fire if allowed to burn naturally. Yes, he will make mistakes; which captain doesn’t?
“But like he showed in the few games in the IPL that he is clever enough to learn and his usual street-smart savvy meant he was on top of most situations and was finding his own method to get out of sticky ones.
“He is one for the future, no doubt about it. That’s because he has shown that talent can meet opportunity only when it walks hand in hand with temperament,” Gavaskar added.
Pant will be travelling to England as he has been named as the first-choice wicketkeeper in the 20-man squad for the World Test Championship and a 5-Test series against England.
When Pragyan Ojha backed Pant for future India captaincy
Meanwhile, former India spinner Pragyan Ojha had said last month that Pant has the potential to become India captain in the future.
“The way he has led his team. Somehow I get a feeling that in the years to come, if Rishabh Pant bats the way he has been batting and shows this maturity, he can be the captain. He is showing that,” Ojha had told Sports Today.
“When you talk about a player, the aura around him shows it. It makes me feel that this is the guy who can be the captain of the Indian team. That’s what I feel after reading about him after talking to people about him. This is the same aura that was created about Sourav Ganguly, created about MS Dhoni. So that is how it is. I feel he can. It’s still far away.”
