Rishabh Pant will perform the captaincy duties for India in the five-match T20I series against South Africa after KL Rahul got ruled out of the series due to a groin injury.
With regular skipper Rohit Sharma being rested, Rahul was the designated skipper for the series but he sustained the injury at the eleventh hour, prompting Pant to address the press conference on the eve of the first T20I.
Speaking to reporters, Rishabh said it is a huge honour to lead the country but added that the opportunity didn’t come under very good circumstances.
"It is a very good feeling, did not come under very good circumstances but at the same time I am feeling happy. I would like to thank the BCCI for giving me this opportunity to lead the Indian side. I will try to make most out of it. Thank you to all my well-wishers for supporting me in my journey through my thick and thin of my cricketing career. I will look to make it a base and keep improving and keep making my life better and better each and every day," said Pant during a press conference.
"It is a great feeling, especially getting an opportunity to lead in your home town. I will try to make most of it. I think as a captain, it will help me a lot (leading in the IPL) because when you are doing the same thing again and again, you improve. I am someone who keeps learning from his mistakes and I think it will help me in the coming days," he added.
When asked if Rahul’s injury will lead to the tweak in the batting order, Pant replied: "I think there would not be much change in the batting order as KL would have opened. We do not have many openers, we will discuss about it after sometime."
"I think as a team we have thought about certain goals we want to achieve as a team. At the end, we have the World Cup at the back of our head and we are preparing for that. In the coming days, you will see there will be changes and how we play cricket I guess," he further said.
Talking about the legendary Rahul Dravid’s presence around him, Pant said: "It is one of the best things to have him around. I worked with him in the U-19 days and then I worked him in the Indian team. There is a lot of experience also, he is already a legendary cricketer. There are a lot of learnings from him, there is just a lot to learn from him."
(With NDTV inputs)
