'Rishabh Pant is not a captain' - Former India player questions selectors on team combinations for Duleep Trophy 2024

For the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024, the Board has created four teams, and Rishabh Pant is in Team B. However, the twist is that he'll be playing under Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is the captain of Team B. Keeping this scenario in mind, former India batter Aakash Chopra has questioned the selectors for not making Pant the captain. 

"Rishabh Pant is not a captain. He has been selected for 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," said Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.

Pant is a good red-ball player and could have been the skipper of the team. However, BCCI have other plans, and it seems like they are just giving him a chance to settle down and make a stronger comeback in the game. That way, he might consider giving him the captaincy in the later half of his career. 

A new era has started: Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra also spoke about an important point: he would like to get Gautam Gambhir's opinion on this captaincy thing since he is handling everything now. Not making Pant the skipper in the Duleep Trophy raised a lot of questions regarding his future and how BCCI is planning to involve him in the team. Moreover, one thing is clear to make space in the team, he'll have to perform in the Duleep Trophy 2024.

"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. 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 Aakash Chopra.