Graeme Swann reckons Rishabh Pant has got the shades of both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in his leadership style and he could have been the long-term captaincy option for India, rather than Rohit Sharma who has now been named as India’s next T20I captain.
Swann has no doubt over the leadership abilities of Rohit because he has shown that for a long period of time in the IPL, but former England off-spinner insisted that the decision on leadership should always be made keeping the future in mind and if there is one man who can lead India for the next 10 years, it’s Rishabh Pant. Pant has not only got the age by his side, but he has also got the leadership qualities as well.
Graeme Swann was commentating in the IPL a few weeks back where Pant was leading Delhi Capitals and he was very impressed with how the young wicketkeeper went about his business leading some of the superstars of world cricket.
In Swann’s opinion, Pant, as a captain, looks collected and composed and he resembles MS Dhoni in that sense, but he has also got a bit of enthusiasm and flamboyance as he operates on the ground and that makes him a little bit similar to Virat Kohli as well. He has got the perfect blend.
“You have to look to the future. You know who I’m talking about, it’s Rishabh Pant. He did a great job in Delhi, he seems like a sort of mix of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli,” Graeme Swann was quoted as saying by cricket.com.
Rishabh Pant was actually in line to be considered for the vice-captaincy of India’s T20 international side, but some of his tactical errors in the first qualifier of the IPL against CSK led to a lot of criticism, and it was said and written by many pundits that the left-hander might be too young for a high-profile leadership position at this stage.
