News
Ashish Nehra backs Rishabh Pant to continue as DC skipper
By SMCS - Oct 14, 2021 5:00 pm
Views 54

Former Indian left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra stated that Delhi Capitals (DC) should retain Rishabh Pant as the captain for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Under Pant, Delhi topped the league stage of IPL 2021 with 20 points as well.

Nehra
Ashish Nehra

However, they failed to reach the final after facing two losses to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the two qualifiers. And, Pant’s inexperience as the leader saw them having a few tactical blunders. But according to Nehra, the youngster was impressive overall and there is no reason to replace him as captain of the franchise as well.

READ HERE: Aakash Chopra opens up on New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad

During an interaction on Cricbuzz, the former India bowler commented: “Pant should be retained as DC captain for next season. The more he plays, the better he will get. There is no doubt about that. The sooner he learns, the better for him and the franchise. Keeping aside a few tactical mistakes that he made, he was good as captain. Everyone cannot be a MS Dhoni, who came in and won the T20 World Cup directly in 2007. Give Pant some time to improve.”

He continued: “If you observe DC’s performance under him in the last three games, they lost to RCB in the last over and went down to CSK in another tight contest. Against KKR, they didn’t win but they stayed in the game even though it seemed a lost cause. As a captain, these close games teach you a lot. Hopefully, Pant is retained as DC captain next season because he needs to be given some time to settle in.”

Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag

Meanwhile, according to former India opener Virender Sehwag, Delhi Capitals should retain Rishabh Pant as a player for the next season. He also claimed that a decision on the captaincy can be taken later on as well. He has scored 419 runs in 16 games this season at a strike rate of 128.52 as well.

Sehwag said: “Pant should be retained. He is the future and will play for DC for the next 10 years just as Virat Kohli has been with Bangalore since 2008. A call on the captaincy can be taken next year after the new team is finalized. If they have a better option, they can go with him else there is Pant.”

READ HERE: Shaun Tait explains why speedsters struggle to bowl 150+kmph

Captaincy is such a thing that the more you do it, the more you learn. Rishabh Pant is young. Yes, he has made some mistakes but he will learn from it. When he looks back at the defeats, he will ponder upon things like whether he should have used less spin in the powerplay and so on. He will definitely learn and improve with time.”