Madan Lal opens up on Rishabh Pant’s stand-in India captaincy

Former cricketer and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selector Madan Lal has said that he would have never let the Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant lead the Indian side as the role requires responsibility and Pant is still young.

The former BCCI selector compared Pant’s captaincy to MS Dhoni’s and Virat Kohli’s leadership style and emphasized the fact that he will need at least two years more to be considered a strong contender for the leadership role. Pant captained team India against visitors South Africa in a recently concluded T20I series, which ended 2-2.

Becoming an India captain is a big deal: Madan Lal

“I would have stopped him from becoming captain. Wouldn’t have allowed it. Because such a player needs to be given this responsibility later. Becoming an India captain is a big deal. He is a youngster. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The longer he plays, he will gain more maturity,” Lal said on Sports Tak.

“Over the next two years, if he can take his game to the next level, then he can be a good captain, can deal with things maturely. This is a player of a different nature. MS Dhoni was a quiet and cool captain, which suited him as captain. Virat Kohli is a brilliant batter. I’m not saying Pant shouldn’t be swinging his bat but if he can play with a little more maturity, it would be great,” added Lal.

To note, Pant has been facing a lot of criticism for his performances in the recently-concluded five-match T20I series against the Proteas at home. Pant was named as the stand-in skipper after KL Rahul was ruled out of the entire series due to a groin injury.

The Men in Blue managed to level the series 2-2 after losing the first two matches, but the decisive last fixture was washed out due to heavy rain in Bengaluru. Apart from the captaincy, Pant did not manage to give any notable performance with the bat as well.