IPL 2021: Pragyan Ojha backs Delhi Capitals’ Rishabh Pant to lead Team India in the future

Pragyan Ojha, the former Indian cricketer, feels that Rishabh Pant has the potential to lead the national team going into the future. Pant is currently the skipper of the Delhi Capitals in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to a shoulder injury.

In their first six games, the Capitals have won four and are sitting pretty at third in the points table below Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings. As per Ojha, Pant has grown leaps and bounds as far as his batting skills are concerned and has matured as well.

“The way he has led his team. Somehow, I get a feeling that in the years to come, if Rishabh Pant bats the way he has been batting and shows this maturity, he can be the captain. He is showing that,” Ojha was quoted as saying in India Today.

Rishabh Pant is developing himself as a player and as a leader: Pragyan Ojha

Ojha, who retired from the game back in February 2020, drew Pant’s parallels to the legendary Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni. Ojha feels that the southpaw can grow under the tutelage of Ravi Shastri, Team India’s head coach.

“When you talk about a player, the aura around him shows it. It makes me feel that this is the guy who can be the captain of the Indian team.

“That’s what I feel after reading about him after talking to people about him. This is the same aura that was created about Sourav Ganguly, created about MS Dhoni. So that is how it is. I feel he can. It’s still far away,” he stated.

“But right now, the way he is developing himself as a player and as a leader, that is something that the think tank should have a close look at. Under Ravi (Shastri) bhai, I think he will develop,” Ojha added.

The Capitals, in their previous game, lost to Virat Kohli’s RCB by one run at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. At the same venue on Thursday, April 29, they would be up against the Kolkata Knight Riders, led by Eoin Morgan.