Rishabh Pant sacked as Delhi’s skipper ahead of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s

Rishabh Pant has emerged as one of India’s most dynamic cricketers. The 20-year-old doesn’t shy away from treading the aggressive approach, an attribute which has earned him success with the willow over several leagues. The Delhi batsman recently led his team to the final of the prestigious Ranji Trophy. However, he has struggled with form lately and hasn’t been at his fluent best.

Even in the final against Vidarbha, he got starts but was unable to translate them into substantial knocks. Recently, the Delhi squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament was announced. Quite surprisingly, the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) has sacked Pant as the skipper of the team. Left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan has been handed over the mantle of leadership.

The shocking revelation by Wassan

As per reports in The Quint, Atul Wassan, the Chairman of Selectors, justified the decision to the media.  “We decided that Rishabh is struggling a bit with his form and we didn’t want to burden him with captaincy. Pradeep Sangwan is fit and is the senior most player in the set-up, (save Gautam Gambhir) playing from 2008. So we thought that Sangwan should be made the captain,” Wassan said.

The chairman also remarked spoke about the reasons why Gambhir hasn’t been chosen as the skipper despite being a veteran. “We want Gautam to play the role of a mentor in this set-up. Also, this was the format where we could have tested new players like Tejas Barokha and Lalit Yadav, who have been star performers for the U-23 side. Also new ball bowler Gaurav Kumar,” he added.

The decision by the DDCA might have come as a surprise for Pant, but the last couple of days haven’t been the worst for the wicketkeeper-batsman. He has recently been retained by Delhi Daredevils franchise for the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as is expected to be an integral part of the franchise.

Here’s the Delhi squad:

Pradeep Sangwan (C), Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant, Himmat Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Lalit Yadav, Kshitij Sharma, Nitish Rana, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Negi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Khistij Sharma, Tejas Barokha, Subodh Bhati, Gaurav Kumar.