New Delhi: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that India wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has shown qualities to become a great leader and his stint with Delhi Capitals as captain will only help him to grow as a cricketer. Pant was named the captain of the Delhi Capitals side as Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2021 due to a shoulder injury. It was under Pant’s leadership that Delhi Capitals finished the league at the top of the table after the IPL 2021 was postponed due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.
Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar that the standout team of the IPL this season was Delhi Capitals and by the end of the sixth game, it was apparent that he was getting tired by all the attention he was getting by being just asked about being captain.
“The standout team Delhi Capitals under young Rishabh Pant. By the sixth game, one could see that he was getting tired of being asked about being captain. Every presenter at the post-game ceremony had the same question to him. What he showed was a spark that can become a roaring fire if allowed to burn naturally. Yes, he will make mistakes; which captain doesn’t?” Gavaskar wrote.
“But like he showed in the few games in the IPL that he is clever enough to learn and his usual street-smart savvy meant he was on top of most situations and was finding his own method to get out of sticky ones. He is one for the future, no doubt about it. That’s because he has shown that talent can meet opportunity only when it walks hand in hand with temperament,” the former India captain added.
Pant scored 213 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 131.48 in this season of the IPL. The tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in the country and multiple players in different franchises testing positive for the virus.