"It is too early to decide if Rishabh Pant can captain India in the future or not" - Saba Karim

Saba Karim has said it is premature to decide if Rishabh Pant can be at Team India's helm of affairs in all three formats in the coming years.

Salman Butt recently spoke highly of Rishabh Pant's batsmanship and named him as one of the possible contenders to take over the Indian team's captaincy from Virat Kohli in the future.

"If they India handed Rishabh Pant the Captaincy (of DC), then the cricket board BCCI may have some plans for the future. Even though Virat Kohli is still young as he is not going anywhere for the next 8-9 years." - Salman Butt

— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) May 27, 2021

While lauding Rishabh Pant's captaincy style during a discussion on India News, Saba Karim pointed out that it will be jumping the gun to label the youngster as a future India skipper.

"I feel it is too early to decide if Rishabh Pant can captain India in the future or not. He has the potential, the way he bats, he captains almost in a similar manner. He has a different style, which makes you happy seeing that," said Karim.

However, the former India wicket-keeper acknowledged that Rishabh Pant has proved to be a calm and collected captain much like MS Dhoni.

"He has a refreshing attitude towards the game, he wants all the players playing with him to enjoy. I see a lot of signs of MS Dhoni's captaincy in him, both in his attitude and his decision-making. He is an instinctive captain," observed Karim.

Rishabh Pant has given a good account of himself as skipper for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021 thus far. While some of his decisions like leaving the final over for Marcus Stoinis were criticized, he also drew plaudits for his composed demeanor.

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"It is necessary for Rishabh Pant to make his place more secure" - Saba Karim

Rishabh Pant staged a comeback into the Indian limited-overs team based on his form in Test cricket

Saba Karim reckons Rishabh Pant should work on cementing his place in the Indian team in all three versions of the game instead of having captaincy ambitions at the moment.

"But I feel it is necessary for Rishabh Pant to make his place more secure in all three formats. I feel there are still a couple of grey areas in T20s where he will have to work hard," said Karim.

The former India selector signed off by stating that while Rishabh Pant's turn might come in the future, Rohit Sharma is already waiting in the wings at the moment with KL Rahul also earmarked as a possible future India skipper.

"It is good for India that so many youngsters are coming up. At the moment, Rohit Sharma is also available and after that KL Rahul is also getting prepared nicely. Rishabh Pant's number will also come but if you see the current scenario, I feel it will be too hasty to say that the selectors will be looking towards Rishabh Pant as a captain for all the three formats," concluded Karim.

Rishabh Pant has scripted a brilliant turnaround to become one of the most prized assets for Team India, after being on the sidelines in all three formats of the game. However, he still has a long way to go before assuring himself a spot in the Indian limited-overs side, with plenty of youngsters vying for limited places.

"He (Rishabh Pant) looks a very mature Cricketer now from the time he came into the side. obviously his range of strokes is awesome. He is an exciting player and very valuable too. But he must spend more time in the middle because England is different." - Kapil Dev

— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) May 26, 2021