When the squad for the revamped Duleep Trophy was announced on Wednesday, it was looked at as a mixed bag of selections. Veterans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin were not included, a decision that was on expected lines, but the likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad were the hot picks of their respective star-studded squads. The Duleep Trophy would be played from September 5 with India A, B, C and D squads battling for the trophy over a period of 17 days, all six matches being played in Anantpur.

The format has been tweaked keeping in mind the importance of giving some players much-needed practice ahead of a long Test season ahead, comprising 10 matches at home and Australia. The tournament becomes all the more crucial for Iyer and Rahul, who are still raw having last played a Test match in March. The responsibilities will multiple for Gill, Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who have been named captains of India A, D and C respectively. As for India B, Abhimanyu Easwaran will be leading a squad featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Pant.

As interesting as it may sound that Pant is not the captain and playing under Easwaran promises to raise eyebrows. The move made by BCCI chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and his team springs a surprise to say the least given that Pant was once a strong contender to take over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma before his unfortunate accident. In fact, during IPL 2024, which marked his return to competitive cricket, Pant led the Delhi Capitals as their skipper. Has Pant slipped down the pecking order? Aakash Chopra's question is particularly relevant, especially considering that Test cricket is where Pant truly excels and showcases and is at his very best.

"Rishabh Pant is not a captain. He has been selected in Abhimanyu Easwaran's team. He is playing under Abhimanyu Easwaran's captaincy, which is absolutely okay. However, is Rishabh Pant not even a candidate for Test captaincy? I am a little surprised," Chopra said in his YouTube video.

"I am not aligned with this personally because the best avatar of Rishabh Pant you have seen is as a Test cricketer. He is the only wicketkeeper in the history of Indian cricket who has scored centuries in South Africa, England and Australia in Test matches."

Gambhir's role in Pant's future

Pant is one of the very few players from the current crop of Indian cricketers to have scored a century in three out of the four SENA nations. Irrespective of his form and questionable consistency in ODIs and T20Is, Pant is already a legend in Tests and is the first-choice wicketkeeper. So why the demotion? Well, in all likelihood, perhaps the board does not want to load Pant with the additional duties of captaincy as he figures his way back into India's Test set-up. As to what the management and newly-appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir's plans are for Pant, Chopra reckons his guess is as good as everyone else's.

"Who else has done that? No one has. The way he plays in Test cricket and scores runs consistently, personally, in my opinion, he was a captaincy candidate. However, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer and even Abhimanyu Easwaran are captains but Pant is not a captain, and that is a huge takeaway in my opinion," added Chopra.

"A new era has started. So I will be very curious to know what Gautam's opinion is with regards to Rishabh Pant the captain. When the ODIs started (against Sri Lanka), he didn't play the first two matches, KL Rahul was playing, but Pant came in the last match.”