Former Indian cricketer Madan Lal has claimed that he would haven’t let Rishabh Pant become the captain of the Indian team as he feels the wicketkeeper is young for such a responsibility. Pant recently led the Indian team during the recently-concluded T20I series against South Africa after KL Rahul was ruled out due to an injury.

Despite losing the first couple of matches in the series, Team India made a dominating comeback and was able to level the series 2-2 before the final match in Bengaluru was washed out. Rishabh Pant failed to do much with his bat during the four matches and he faced a lot of criticism for it.

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During a recent interaction with Sports Tak, Madan Lal claimed that he would have stopped Pant from taking up the captaincy role as he was still very young. The World Cup winner went on to say that the 24-year-old wicketkeeper will gain more maturity as he plays the game longer.

Elaborating the same, Madan Lal said, “I would have stopped him from becoming captain. Wouldn’t have allowed it. Because such a player needs to be given this responsibility later. Becoming an India captain is a big deal. He is a youngster. He isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The longer he plays, he will gain more maturity.”

The former Indian cricketer compared Pant’s captaincy to that of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Lal stressed the fact that if the wicketkeeper can improve his batting in the next couple of years, then he can be considered a serious contender for captaincy.

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Explaining the same, Madan Lal said, “Over the next two years, if he can take his game to the next level, then he can be a good captain, can deal with things maturely. This is a player of a different nature. MS Dhoni was a quiet and cool captain, which suited him as captain. Virat Kohli is a brilliant batter. I’m not saying Pant shouldn’t be swinging his bat but if he can play with a little more maturity, it would be great.”