India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant lost his vice-captaincy as the squad for Afghanistan one-off Test was announced. A couple of days ahead of the Test, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has said that the 28-year-old had not issues about losing the leadership role. Also, the management wants the southpaw to adjust his game as the situation demands.
"You don’t need a formal title to becoming a leader. We need him to adjust his game to play according to the situation," Doeschate told the reporters in New Chandigarh.
"No complaints from Rishabh on being removed as vice-captain," he added.
Pant loses Test vice-captaincy to Rahul, leaves LSG leadership
Notably, Pant had led India in injured Shubman Gill's absence in the second Test of the series against South Africa at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. India ended up losing the Test by a record margin of 408 runs as the Temba Bavuma-led side completed cleansweep. Recently, the 28-year-old also let go of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captaincy after they finished at the bottom of the points table.
Pant’s numbers not poor barring South Africa series
Towards the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Pant made a few contributions including a half-century in Sydney. In the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, he scored twin hundreds in the Leeds Test. In Manchester Test, he braved a foot injury to play. The injury ruled him out of the fifth and final Test followed by the two-Test series against West Indies at home. He returned for two-Test series against South Africa and managed just 49 runs from four innings.
Despite low scores towards the end, he managed 629 runs from 13 innings in 2025. He averaged 48.38 last year. Apart from two centuries, he crossed the fifty-run mark four times.
Update on Siraj, one debut confirmed
Meanwhile, the coach has confirmed that pacer Mohammed Siraj is fit and ready to go. While the former Netherlands cricketer did not reveal the team combination, he confirmed that either Manav Suthar or Harsh Dubey will make their Test debut.