Australian legend Ricky Ponting feels Rishabh Pant’s experience will be handy as he gears up to lead the Indian team in the second cricket Test against South Africa in Guwahati after regular skipper Shubman Gill was ruled out due to a neck spasm.
Ponting, who has worked closely with Pant in the Indian Premier League (IPL), conceded that it is never easy to be a stopgap captain but has backed the Indian keeper-batter to handle it in the longest format.
“It’s never easy to come in and fill in for someone as a stopgap captain, especially when you’ve just lost a Test match a few days before,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.
“Rishabh is a reasonably experienced Test match player now, though as well. I think being a wicket keeper probably helps to see the way that the game is evolving and what’s happening in the game.
“He has done at the IPL level now for the last few years, obviously done it in Delhi (Capitals) before that. I think he’ll handle it fine,” he added.
Pant and Ponting shared a captain-coach relationship in the Delhi Capitals franchise before the former moved on to Lucknow Super Giants and the latter to Punjab Kings. Though Pant has abundant experience of leading teams in white-ball cricket, this will be the first time the 27-year-old will be donning the captain’s hat for the Test side.
“It will be interesting to see how he plays as captain if he changes his style of play as captain, as a batter anyway,” Ponting observed.
“I think he’ll handle the occasion fine. I think the one thing that’s probably not spoken about enough with these so-called younger Indian players now is that when they take the step up to playing for India in a Test match or even leading their team, because they get that great experience from the IPL.
“The IPL is probably almost as big as a Test match for a lot of these guys because of the crowds and the scrutiny that comes with an IPL game.
“I think the modern players are a bit more ready for that and a bit for those leadership roles and the enormity of the situation than they might have been 15 years ago. So I think Rishabh will handle it fine.”
For the hosts, a series-levelling win in Guwahati will also help them climb to third place in the World Test Championship standings.