IND vs SA: It Is One Of The Proudest Moments For Me - Rishabh Pant On Leading India

KL Rahul was supposed to lead India in the T20 Series against South Africa. But a freakish injury ruled him out of the series. Had he been available he would have become just the 6th Indian captain to have the national team in all three formats of the game. Before him, Virendra Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had the opportunity to lead India in all three formats.

An Injury to Rahul meant that Rishabh Pant was elevated to the captaincy. Pant will become just the 8th Indian player to lead India in T20 internationals. He is also the youngest of them all to do so.

Rishabh Pant Creates Multiple Records

MS Dhoni-led India in 72 matches while Kohli in 50. Virendra Sehwag, Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina led India in 1, 2 and 3 games respectively. Shikhar Dhawan too has led India in 3 T20 internationals. Rohit Sharma has so far led India in 28 T20 games.

Rishabh Pant is also the 3rd player from Delhi to lead India in T20 internationals.

During the toss when asked about leading India, Pant said, “It is one of the proudest moments in my cricketing career so far. Because a Delhi boy getting that (captaincy) honour at Delhi is a huge thing for me. Thanks to everyone for giving me this opportunity.”

Pant will hope that the team can perform well under him.

South Africa (Playing XI):

Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje

India (Playing XI):

Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan

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