India cricket team star Rishabh Pant’s return to One Day International seems luminous as the wicketkeeper-batsman could be selected as the captain of India’s ODI series against South Africa. Pant participated in a One Day International last in August 2024. He is currently captaining the Indian team in the ongoing 2nd Test in Guwahati in the absence of Shubman Gill.
According to a report from The Week, the BCCI top brass does not seem to be in a hurry to bring Shubman Gill back into action after the captain is ruled out of the ongoing second Test due to a severe neck injury he suffered in the first Test at the Eden Gardens.
Instead, Pant, who took over the reins of the Test team, is expected to continue as captain for the ODI series as well. It is pertinent to point out that while other seniors like KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma can lead the side. Shreyas Iyer was the vice-captain, but he is too unlikely to be a part of the series, leading to the selectors and the management zeroing in on Pant to lead the side in the ODIs as well.
The report states that since Gill is an integral part of the T-20I set-up as well, the management does not want to take any chances, given that he is a certain part of India’s XI in the upcoming T-20 World Cup 2026. In fact, the Punjab batsman might as well skip the ODI series to be fit for the T20Is vs SA that will take place between 9th and 19th December.
As for Pant, he last featured in an ODI way back in August 2024 against Sri Lanka. Since then, he has been ruled out of the 50-over and T-20Is format, with Rahul being picked as the first-choice keeper-batter in ODIs.
