Ever since Rishabh Pant made his captaincy debut in the first T20I of the five-match series against South Africa at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday, he became the talk of the town for his controversial decisions. India lost the first game by seven wickets and failed to claim the world record for winning the most consecutive T20Is. Pant, who replaced KL Rahul as the captain of the Indian cricket team for this series, made some interesting decisions where he did not let India's premier spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bowl the full quota of four overs. He also asked the leg-spinner to bowl the last over of the innings.
How will #TeamIndia approach the second @Paytm #INDvSA T20I at Cuttack?
Hear what @BhuviOfficial said pic.twitter.com/3LXj8F4t6F
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 11, 2022
Opening up on Rishabh Pant's captaincy, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said on his Youtube channel," "Rishabh Pant does try to think out of the box at times. We've seen that he's not given Kuldeep Yadav his four overs in the IPL, even when he had taken four wickets from his first three. This has not just happened once but on several occasions. He is a different type of captain. As far as the batting order is concerned, I don't think Rishabh Pant is the one deciding it. Rahul Dravid would be doing that."
Earlier in the pre-match press-conference India pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar also opened up on Pant's captaincy where he said that Pant is a young captain and his leadership skills will improve going forward. "Rishabh Pant is a young captain, it was his first game. It happens with everyone. I am sure he will try to do better in the next games. It is up to the team how the captain looks. We did not bowl well, every decision he takes and if it brings about a wicket, everyone hails the call but if it goes the other way, people criticise. But I think, it is up to the bowling team how the captain looks. We did not perform well as a bowling unit," Kumar said.
