Rishabh Pant (PTI Photo)
In 31 ODI appearances, he has scored 871 runs at an average of 33.50, with his best being an unbeaten 125 against England in 2022. Pant has played considerably fewer ODIs than Tests and T20Is. It remains his only hundred in the format, alongside five fifties.
Being named captain of the Rest of India side for the Irani Cup would have offered little consolation to a player still hoping to return to India’s 50-over set-up. Pant’s absence from the 2023 World Cup followed the accident that kept him out of professional cricket for a year. When India announced their squad for the West Indies ODI series, Pant was once again left out.
Pant admitted that being dropped hurts, but said setbacks are part of an athlete’s journey. But at the same time, you know how hard you’re working, and you’re clear in your path to maintain at this level,” Pant said on the Business of Sport podcast. “Definitely, you feel bad when something like this happens. But an athlete’s mindset allows you to feel that when there’s a setback, there is always a comeback. These are things that, as an athlete, you have to deal with in your day-to-day life. People say this happened to me, that happened to me, but for an athlete, this is part and parcel of the game. In his absence, KL Rahul established himself as India’s primary wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs.
In IPL 2025, he scored 269 runs at an average of 24.45 and a strike rate of 133.17, with his campaign including a century in the final league game. In the following season, he made 312 runs at an average of 28.36 and a strike rate of 138. Pant’s T20I prospects have also become less certain. Sanju Samson is India’s primary wicketkeeper in the format and was named Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup, while Ishan has also taken up the wicketkeeping role when Samson has not been in the playing XI. Pant has also not made a particularly strong case with the bat in his last two IPL seasons.