Delhi Capitals co-owner slams Indian team management for excluding Pant from playing XI

Rishabh Pant has quickly fallen out of favor as India's first-choice wicketkeeper after KL Rahul's brilliant performances with the bat and gloves recently. The southpaw's inconsistency had become a cause of concern and thus he has just gone on to become a backup wicketkeeper in the team.

Pant was the only player from the Indian squad who did not get even a single game in the T20I series and ODI series against New Zealand. Parth Jindal, head of Jindal South West sports and also the co-owner of Delhi Capitals, questioned the exclusion of the explosive youngster and took to Twitter to express his displeasure.

Jindal wrote: “And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench? Surely he would have benefited from playing against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor.”

And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench? Surely he would have benefited from paying against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor

— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) February 11, 2020

Pant has been a game-changer for the Delhi-based franchise in the IPL and Jindal clearly believes that if he had been given a few chances to showcase his talent, he would have come good eventually. With Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan both injured, India had the option to go ahead with KL Rahul as an opener and get Rishabh Pant game time in the middle-order. But instead, they chose to give ODI debuts to the new opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw and backed Rahul to play in the middle-order.

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Rahul took to his new position as fish takes to water and scored a brilliant century in the third ODI batting at number five. With Rahul's red hot form, it is unlikely that Pant will get a chance anytime soon.