Despite Rishabh Pant being replaced by KL Rahul as the Test team vice-captain, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the coaching staff expects the wicketkeeper-batter to be a role model and take extra responsibility as a senior player.
With India taking on Afghanistan, Rishabh Pant is all set to play his 50th Test. Pant has scored 3,476 runs in 49 Tests at an average of 42.91. While his attacking style has helped India win matches, he has also faced criticism at times for taking unnecessary risks and for being reckless.
“You don’t need a formal title to become a leader. We need him to adjust his game to play according to the situation. In this particular case, no complaints from Rishabh on being removed as the vice-captain. I have held a long discussion with him, where he wants to take his game, he is very clear about giving his best,” said ten Doeschate.
Ten Doeschate also talked about bringing stability to the No. 3 slot by giving a long rope to the player chosen for the crucial role, be it Sai Sudharsan or Devdutt Padikkal.
“There’s been a lot of changes in that spot and that’s not ideal. We need to look at the incumbents for that role and maybe stick with someone,” said ten Doeschate. “It’s a difficult position and a very important one to bat at. Dev comes in with a ton of runs in domestic cricket across all the formats and obviously Sai has been high on runs in the IPL, so they’re both in good form. Whoever plays, they’ll be given a bit of a run. That’s quite difficult with one Test match now, and then we don’t play a Test match for another two months. And then we play two Test matches, and then you don’t play for a while. So, we need to factor that in,” he added.
The assistant coach also confirmed that Mohammed Siraj is in good form, and has gained a fine rhythm despite having a shoulder injury scare in the IPL. “Siraj bowled yesterday, he looked absolutely fine,” said ten Doeschate.
He also said that the management will likely pick both Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav to shoulder the spin responsibilities, with either Manav Suthar or Harsh Dubey making a debut. “We are heading towards a crucial nine Test matches in the WTC cycle, and sort of our last chance of making that final, which is top of priority at the moment, so the combinations will be picked accordingly,” he said.
