IND vs SA: “He'll handle it fine”- Ricky Ponting confident of Rishabh Pant doing well as India test captain for Guwahati match

Rishabh Pant was asked to lead India after Shubman Gill was ruled out of the second IND vs SA second test.

Rishabh Pant will captain India in test cricket for the first time when they host South Africa for the second match against South Africa. This game will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati from November 22.

On the second day of the first test in Kolkata, Shubman Gill experienced a spasm in his neck. After being admitted to the hospital for treatment, he was unable to play in the test match due to his injury. Rishabh Pant took over as captain as India lost the first test by 30 runs.

It was said that Shubman Gill was making every effort to participate in the Indian team’s second test when he traveled to Guwahati.

On November 21, 2025, the eve before the second Test, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) publicly declared that deputy captain Rishabh Pant would lead the Indian squad instead of Shubman Gill.

International Cricket Council (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. Rishabh is a reasonably experienced Test match player now, though, as well. I think being a wicketkeeper probably helps to see the way that the game is evolving and what’s happening in the game.

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

Before moving on to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS), respectively, Pant and Ponting had a captain-coach connection with the Delhi Capitals (DC).

“He’ll handle the occasion fine”—Ricky Ponting on Rishabh Pant

Even though Pant has a lot of experience managing teams in white-ball cricket, this will be the 28-year-old’s first time captaining the test team. Pant had earlier led India in a home T20I series against South Africa.

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

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 with an IPL game. I think the modern players are a bit more ready for that and a bit more ready 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,” Ponting stated.

India will have to choose from Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Devdutt Padikkal as replacements for Shubman Gill.

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