India vs England: Pant did a horrible job in SA series, should not lead at Edgbaston, says Kaneria

Rishabh Pant is being seen by some quarters of Indian cricket not only as the future captain of India across formats, but also someone who could step in and lead the side in the fifth and final Test against England in Birmingham.

Regular captain Rohit Sharma tested positive for COVID-19 during India’s warm-up game against Leicestershire in the build-up to the delayed Test, and is currently doubtful for the match that starts Friday at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Pant, along with former captain Virat Kohli, are being touted as the possible captaincy picks for the upcoming match.

However, among those doubting Pant’s ability to take over the reins of the Indian Test team is former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who believes the wicketkeeper-batter isn’t “mature enough to be made captain”.

“He is not even mature enough to be a captain. Because Rohit is doubtful for the Test match. Let’s see,” Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.

He would go on to further explain the reason behind his statement.

“Pant was given the captaincy in the South Africa series and he did a horrible job. His own batting collapses when he does captaincy. Rishabh Pant should not be the captain any more,” said Kaneria, who also didn’t favour picking pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for captaincy.

Kaneria, who is the highest Test wicket-taker of all time among Pakistani spinners with 261 scalps from 61 matches, mentioned names such as Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin besides Kohli as some players who could take over from Rohit at Edgbaston.

“Because Cheteshwar Pujara has been playing for so long, he is the senior-most player in the team, he can lead the team if Rohit Sharma is not there. The best option you have got is Virat Kohli. You can make him the captain. Ravichandran Ashwin is another name which is coming up to be the captain is Rohit is not there,” said Kaneria.

Pant has been leading the Delhi franchise for two seasons now in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Under his captaincy, the Delhi Capitals reached the playoffs in last year’s edition before losing out to Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2. However, the side narrowly lost out on a playoffs spot in this year’s edition, finishing fifth.

Shortly after the IPL, Pant would make his debut as India captain after KL Rahul, who had been originally picked to lead India in the T20I series against South Africa, was ruled out due to injury.

Pant got off to an inauspicious start as India captain with consecutive losses to the Proteas, but the hosts managed to bounce back with convincing victories in the next two games to level the series, before the series decider in Bengaluru got rained off.

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