The BCCI on August 14 named the squads for the first round of Duleep Trophy 2024-25. With the four-team tournament set to start on September 5, India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be marking his return to red-ball cricket. Pant has been picked in ‘Team B’ and it is interesting to note that he has not been named the captain of the side. Instead, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been assigned the duty to lead the team. Former India cricekter Aakash Chopra has questioned BCCI’s move regarding that, as years ago Pant was seen as the successor of Rohit in Test captaincy.

“Rishabh Pant is not a captain. He has been selected in Abhimanyu Easwaran’s team. He is playing under Abhimanyu Easwaran’s captaincy, which is absolutely okay. However, is Rishabh Pant not even a candidate for Test captaincy? I am a little surprised,” Aakash Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I am not aligned with this personally because the best avatar of Rishabh Pant you have seen is as a Test cricketer. He is the only wicketkeeper in the history of Indian cricket who has scored centuries in South Africa, England and Australia in Test matches. The way he plays in Test cricket and the consistency with which he scores, he was the captaincy candidate in my opinion,” he added.

Chopra was also curious to know the opinion of India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir with regards to Pant the captain.

“However, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and even Abhimanyu Easwaran are captains but Pant is not a captain, and that is a huge takeaway in my opinion,” he said.

“A new era has started. So I will be very curious to know what Gautam’s opinion is with regards to Rishabh Pant the captain,” added the ex-India batter.