Rishabh Pant is Appointed captain a day before the start of the India vs South Africa T20I series after a groin injury ruled KL Rahul out, though he lost the first two matches but then, Pant and his young Indian team won the third and fourth T20Is to level the series. In all this, Pant’s batting remained a concern while he also failed to win a single toss.
The 24-year-old Pant is a strong contender and still has a long way to go, feels former BCCI selector and coach Madan Lal.
But in a contrasting view point former India World Cup winning all-rounder is not in favour of Pant captaining the Indian team, "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.
Lal additionally, noted that Pant needed to give himself at least two years before he could be taken seriously as a strong candidate for captaincy in order to demonstrate maturity in both his batting and captaincy.
"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.