Aakash Chopra believes the Indian selectors have made up their mind about Rishabh Pant’s immediate future in white-ball cricket, with the wicketkeeper-batter left out of the ODI squad for the upcoming West Indies series despite being named captain of the Rest of India side for the Irani Cup. Speaking ahead of the three-match series, Chopra pointed to the contrasting roles handed to Pant across formats, saying India continue to see him as an important player in Test cricket while his position in the ODI setup appears to have changed.
But in ODI cricket, without playing, he’s been bid goodbye,” Chopra told JioStar. “Rishabh Pant is a very strange and very unique case. he was stripped of his vice-captaincy duties there as well While he is playing Test cricket and is a very important member of the red-ball side.
Pant, who was never a permanent member of the 50-over squad, has played just one ODI in the past four years. He was also out of the T20I team after the 2024 T20 World Cup victory. Pant’s omission from the ODI squad comes as India begin their preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Shubman Gill will lead the side against the West Indies, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have also been included in the 15-member squad.
So, I’m looking at an opportunity opening up for one of these two,” Chopra said. Dhruv Jurel is among the wicketkeeping options in the ODI side, while KL Rahul has been appointed vice-captain in place of Shreyas Iyer, who will be part of India’s Asian Games campaign. Chopra also highlighted the competition for places in India’s wider ODI group as the team looks to build depth ahead of the World Cup. “You have to think about who you can take along as reserves for the World Cup. So, there will be a toss-up here between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who are both part of this team, and whenever they’ve played, they’ve scored a lot of runs.
