Agarkar Criticized for Underestimating Rishabh Pant as Potential Successor to Rohit: Indian Cricket's Most Valuable Star

When Rohit Sharma was appointed as the captain for all formats of the Indian cricket team in early 2022, Rishabh Pant was identified as one of the potential successors. The then selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma, had expressed their desire to groom Pant, along with other candidates like KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, under the guidance of the senior India opener.

However, in September, when the Ajit Agarkar-led incumbent selection committee named the four squads for the Duleep Trophy, Pant, picked in India B team, was not named as a captain.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash sent a reminder of Agarkar's September move when Abhimanyu Easwaran was picked as the India B captain. He reckoned that with Pant having emerged as the best player for India at the end of the home season, where he was the only positive in an otherwise forgettable run, his captaincy potential may have been “misjudged.”

“When the Duleep Trophy teams were picked, Pant was selected, but Abhimanyu Easwaran was the captain of that team. Pant played as a player but not a captain in that tournament, which made us wonder if he is no longer even a captaincy candidate. But now that home season is over, we suddenly feel he is the captain, he is the saviour, our crisis man, one who can even play in poor batting conditions. He is the only one playing with so much confidence, he can hit sixes and has the defensive game. So was Pant misjudged? I mean, he was not named as a captain in the Duleep Trophy, and now he is the most valuable Indian player in Test cricket, or even across the globe,” he said.

Pant missed the England home series earlier this year as he was still rehabilitating from the injuries he had incurred following a car crash in December 2022. But following his return to the format after over 600 days, it seemed Pant was never away. In five matches, across the series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, he carved out 422 runs, the most by an India batter, at 46.88 with a century and three fifties.

With India heading to Australia next, Pant is being considered India's only batting hope, with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting having already predicted that he would emerge as the top run-getter for the team in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series.