A day after the Test series defeat against South Africa, Virat Kohli shocked the cricket fraternity and stepped down as the Test captain. Given that he wasn’t going to lead the Men in Blue in the future, Kohli was expected to keep the red-ball captaincy for long. But he stepped down from the top job. Kohli left the job as the country’s most successful skipper in the longest format. 

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul lead the race to replace Kohli. Rohit, who has been a regular member of the Test team since 2019, is the present vice-captain. On the other hand, Rahul was stand-in vice-captain in place of Rohit and also led the team in the 2nd Test match of the South Africa series in Kohli’s absence.

Apart from them, Rishabh Pant is also a regular member of the Test team and has led India A in past. So does he stand a chance to be named the next captain? Speaking to the media, former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has opined that the wicketkeeper-batsman’s chance hasn’t yet come.

“You are spoilt for choice… But Pant not yet, maybe one day… But when you have got Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul you have got some mighty cricketers,” Pietersen has said.

“I love Rahul Dravid. I’m looking forward to his progress with the national side. He has done wonders for the youngsters. So I’m looking forward to seeing him progress with the senior players.”

Rishabh also has captaincy experience in red-ball cricket as he captained Delhi in the 2017/18 Ranji Trophy season. Under him, Delhi made it to the final of the tournament.

Rishabh isn’t in the race to take up the captaincy for now. But he can have a bright chance in the future. The left-handed batsman is a regular member of the Test team now and has 1735 runs in 28 Tests. He leads Delhi Capitals in IPL.