Fast-bowler Avesh Khan lauded Rishabh Pant as an intelligent captain. He talked about his camaraderie with the Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper batter, saying that they know each other from U19 days.  

Rishabh Pant impressed many with his captaincy in the IPL 2021 for the DC franchise. The wicketkeeper-batter was handed the leadership responsibilities after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the marquee tournament due to a shoulder injury. 

Pant continued to lead the side even when Iyer returned for the second phase of IPL 14, which was played in the UAE. Under him, Delhi Capitals finished the league stage at the top of the table and qualified for the playoffs, where they were knocked out in Qualifier 2.

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Rishabh Pant was applauded by many fans and pundits for his leadership skills and there are even calls of him being Virat Kohli’s successor as the Indian Test captain. 

In an interaction with veteran journalist Boria Majumdar on Backstage with Boria, pacer Avesh Khan said that being a wicketkeeper, Pant can see what the batter is going to do and he always has good communication with him as they both know each other from U19 days. 

"Rishabh Pant is quite an intelligent captain. He is a wicketkeeper, so he can see very well what the batter is going to do. I have always had good communication with him because he is a good friend too from the Under-19 days, when we played together," Avesh Khan said. 

Khan said that Pant used to tell him whatever he feels about field placement. He highlighted that skipper always trusted him and he also used to practice accordingly. 

"Even when we’d be in the room together, I’d tell him that whatever you feel is right, whatever field you want to set or whatever delivery you want me to bowl, you tell me and I’ll do that. So the captain always trusted me that 'he will do what I say'. I would also practice accordingly,” he said. 

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Avesh Khan further said that Rishabh Pant guided him from behind the stumps as to which ball to bowl. He added that he executed plans well and the skipper was happy with him. 

"He’s also guided me from behind the stumps many times as to whether to bowl away from the batter or to bowl a bouncer or a wide yorker. It feels good having that kind of communication, and when I executed those plans even he felt good as a captain that I was following what he had to say,"  he said. 

Avesh Khan had a brilliant campaign in IPL 2021. The right-arm pacer was the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 24 wickets to his name. He was not retained by the franchise as they went for Rishabh Pant, Akshar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, and Anrich Nortje. 

Avesh Khan has also earned his maiden ODI call-up for India for the upcoming home series against West Indies, which will start from February 6.

(Backstage with Boria inputs)