Salman Butt backs Rishabh Pant as Virat Kohli’s successor to lead Team India

Salman Butt, the veteran Pakistan batsman, reckoned that Rishabh Pant is a contender as Virat Kohli’s successor to lead Team India in the future. Pant, recently, got the captaincy for the Delhi Capitals (DC) after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the tournament due to a dislocated shoulder.

When the tournament was suspended back on May 4, the Capitals were placed in the top half of the points table. Though Pant’s form with the bat wasn’t overly great, he was able to grab the limelight in his maiden stint as the skipper in the cash-rich and popular T20 event.

As per Butt, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have plans surrounding Pant after giving him the responsibility in the IPL.   

“I am not aware of his domestic cricket (records) in-depth but from what I have seen in the IPL, if they handed Rishabh Pant the captaincy (of Delhi Capitals), then the cricket board (BCCI) may have some plans for the future. Kohli is still young as he is not going anywhere for the next 8-9 years,” Butt was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

Rohit Sharma is an outstanding captain: Salman Butt

Butt also heaped praises on Rohit Sharma for his leadership skills over the years. In 2013, Rohit took over as Mumbai Indians’ (MI) captain, and ever since then, the team has won five titles. The Nagpur-born has also done well as the vice-captain of the Indian team.

“Along with him (Pant), Rohit Sharma is an outstanding captain. I really like him as a captain. Strategically and tactically, he’s a very good captain,” he stated.

Moreover, Butt had words of praises for Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane as well. In the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy, Rahane captained the team after Virat Kohli left due to paternal duties.

After losing the opening Test, India came back and won the Test series 2-1. Butt mentioned that Rahane took the accurate decisions and they paid off.

“Recently, they (India) won the Test series in Australia in which Ajinkya Rahane was handling the captaincy. He also did a very nice job in Australia. Tactically, he was spot on and his decision-making was clear,” he added.