Rishabh Pant to Lead India in Deciding Test Against South Africa After Eden Gardens Loss

India will be captained by Rishabh Pant for the deciding Test against South Africa here, after the hosts faced a 30-run defeat in the opening Test at Eden Gardens.

Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of the series due to a neck injury, was retired hurt in the first innings in Kolkata and did not come out to bat in the second innings.

According to International Cricket Council (ICC), currently 1-0 up, if South Africa end up winning the series 2-0, they will secure the second position in the World Test Championship points table just behind Australia. On the other hand, India will move to the third place if they manage to win the deciding Test and draw the series 1-1.

With the hosts failing to chase down low targets and an unsettled XI marred by injuries and inexperience, stand-in skipper Pant will have his task cut out to level the series, which will prove pivotal in India’s ICC World Test Championship 2027 campaign.

ICC Hall of Famer Ricky Ponting, who has worked closely with Pant in the Indian Premier

League (IPL), feels the keeper-batter’s experience will come into play in his role as a skipper.

“It's never easy to come in and fill in for someone as a stopgap captain, especially when you've just lost a Test match a few days before,” Ponting said, speaking in the latest edition of the ICC Review.

“Rishabh is a reasonably experienced Test match player now though as well. I think being a wicket keeper probably helps to see the way that the game is evolving and what's happening in the game," he said.

“He has done at IPL level now for the last few years, obviously done it in Delhi (Capitals) before that. I think he'll handle it fine,” Ponting said.

Pant and Ponting shared a captain-coach relationship in the Delhi Capitals franchise before the former moved on to Lucknow Super Giants and the latter to Punjab Kings.

Though Pant has abundant experience of leading teams in white-ball cricket, this will be the first time the 28-year-old will be donning the captain’s hat for the Test side.

“It will be interesting to see how he plays as captain if he changes his style of play as captain, as a batter anyway,” Ponting observed.

“I think he'll handle the occasion fine. I think the one thing that's probably not spoken about enough with these so-called younger Indian players now is that when they take the step up to playing for India in a Test match or even leading their team, because they get that great

experience from the IPL,' he said.

“The IPL is probably almost as big as a Test match for a lot of these guys because of the crowds and the scrutiny that comes in an IPL game," Ponting said.

“I think the modern players are a bit more ready for that and a bit for those leadership roles and the enormity of the situation than they might have been 15 years ago. So I think Rishabh will handle it fine,” he said.

Apart from missing out on Gill’s captaincy, India will also be without their premium number four batter, who was the highest run-getter in the recent England Test series.

The second Test begins on November 22 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.