Rishabh Pant has only played one ODI in three years. (PTI)With Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer out injured, India’s rejigged ODI squad for the South Africa series starting Sunday also called for the return of Rishabh Pant for the first time in nearly eight months. Pant was part of the ICC Champions Trophy-winning squad in March 2025, but did not play in any game in the tournament, with KL Rahul leading the wicket-keeper’s role.
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With Rahul taking over as captain for the forthcoming matches and confirmed his position at No. 6 in the order, there is uncertainty over who will take over the No. 4 and 5 slots in the batting order during the first ODI against the Proteas in Ranchi. While Pant is among the front-runners, former India wicket-keeper Saba Karim felt that he could not find a suitable spot in the order for the Delhi batter.
Pant last featured in an ODI in August 2024 in Sri Lanka, scoring six runs in his only outing. In 27 innings in the 50-over format, Pant has aggregated only 877 runs at a 33.50 average.
“Tilak Varma is the right player to get in place of Shreyas Iyer, because then you have very solid top order with Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, number three Virat Kohli. Tilak Varma has shown immense promise so far in white-ball cricket. This is a good opportunity for him to come good even in one-day cricket. So, I see Tilak Varma at number four,” Karim said on ESPNcricinfo.
“I would love to see him in the 11, but I think the way the 11 is going to be constructed, I see no place for Rishabh Pant at this stage. He comes in because Shubman Gill is not there in the side and once you have decided to pick Tilak Varma in the 11, you see KL Rahul coming in as a wicketkeeper. Then you have the all-rounders coming through.
“The other option is to play Rishabh Pant low down the order and play with only five specialist bowlers and get maybe Tilak Varma or Yashasvi Jaiswal to bowl two, three overs,” Karim remarked.
Stand-in captain Rahul kept a tight lid over Pant’s role on match eve.
“For Rishabh, he is good enough to play as a specialist batter, but we will see tomorrow. Of course, if he is playing, he will take the gloves, but we will see that tomorrow,” he told reporters on Saturday.
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