India skipper KL Rahul revealed that Rishabh Pant is in a good enough condition to play as a specialist batter in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. But, he added that if the latter does get named in the playing XI, then he will also be taking care of the wicketkeeping duties as well.
Pant yet to play an ODI since 2024
Notably, Pant hasn't featured in any ODI since August, 2024 when he played in a match against Sri Lanka. Despite being a regular member in India's Test set-up, Pant hasn't been able to maintain his place in the team's ODI and T20I set-ups. However, even though the 28-year-old hasn't played any ODIs for the team this year, Rahul is confident that he will deliver if he get the opportunity to do so.
“Rishabh obviously missed out due to injury, and again, he is someone who has been with the team for a long time. Everyone has seen what he brings and what he can do for the team. Like I answered them earlier, the players who are already in the team and have been performing - sometimes you just have to wait for your opportunity,” Rahul said in the pre-match press conference.
“You’ll get to know tomorrow who will play - whether it’s me or him behind the stumps - but obviously, he is good enough to play as a batter as well. But if he is in the eleven, then obviously he will take the gloves, and I will be in the field,” he added.
Pant's numbers in one-day cricket
Pant does have quite a bit of experience when it comes to one-day cricket as he has so far featured in 31 matches for India in the format, scoring a total of 871 runs. He has five half-centuries and a hundred under his name, including an average of 33.50. It remains to be seen if he will make his long comeback in the format with the upcoming series against South Africa that will commence from November 30.
India's squad for ODI series against South Africa: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel.
South Africa's squad for India ODIs: Temba Bavuma (C), Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Rubin Hermann, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen.