Former India cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra strongly believes that the BCCI national selection committee has completely made up its mind about Rishabh Pant’s immediate white-ball future.
Chopra noted that while the wicketkeeper-batter remains a fundamental pillar of India's Test match team, he has essentially been "bid goodbye" in ODI cricket without even playing.
Even though regular choices like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson were unavailable due to Asian Games commitments, the selectors preferred Dhruv Jurel as the backup wicketkeeping option for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies. Instead, the Ajit Agarkar-led committee named Pant the captain of the Rest of India (ROI) side for the Irani Cup clash against Jammu & Kashmir.
Chopra highlighted this as a definitive sign that the selectors are looking in a different direction for the future.
"Rishabh Pant is a very strange and very unique case. While he is playing Test cricket and is a very important member of the red-ball side, he was stripped of his vice-captaincy duties there as well. But in ODI cricket, without playing, he's been bid goodbye," Chopra told JioStar.
"At the same time, he has been made the captain of the Rest of India (ROI), which also tells you that, with respect to red-ball cricket, they are very serious about Rishabh playing a huge role in the longer format. But for white-ball cricket, as of now, I think this selection committee has made up its mind," he added.
The selection decisions come as India kickstart their developmental blueprint ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup in Africa.
Pant’s exclusion reinforces a growing reality that his white-ball opportunities are shrinking. The southpaw has featured in just one ODI over the past four years, and he was previously left out of the T20I setup following India's 2024 T20 World Cup triumph.
Aakash Chopra also emphasized the stiff competition for places in India’s ODI squad as the team looks to build depth ahead of the quadrennial event.
"You have to think about who you can take along as reserves for the World Cup. So, there will be a toss-up here between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who are both part of this team, and whenever they've played, they've scored a lot of runs. So, I'm looking at an opportunity opening up for one of these two," Chopra stated.
"Auqib Nabi has been travelling with the team for some time now but isn't getting a chance to play in the XI. If he gets his opportunity, I'll be quite excited to see him perform," he remarked.
The India-West Indies ODI series is slated to get underway in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27, with the second match in Guwahati on September 30 and the third in New Chandigarh on October 3.
