Life is the game of Snakes and Ladders. Last year, in June, India played a five-match Test series against England. During this time, the Indian cricket team management announced Shubman Gill as the successor to the Indian Test team and appointed Rishabh Pant as Gill’s deputy. Since then, the Indian team has experienced both ups and downs, but luck and runs have eluded Rishabh Pant. Now, a year later, as the Indian team prepares to face Afghanistan starting June 6, Pant will no longer be the vice-captain of the team. Team management has given the role to KL Rahul, as Pant has lost his rhythm as a batter in this one year.
A dip in batting form in the last year
The swashbuckling smasher of the ball has made 3476 runs in tests in just 49 matches with an average of 42.91 so far. He has remained one of the best match winners in his test career, but leadership roles have outperformed his batting. In the 2026 IPL, he has made 251 runs playing 12 matches with a strike rate of 138, also with an average of 27.89.
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In the 2025 IPL, he has managed to score 269 runs, including one fifty and one century. Those stats definitely don’t describe the potential of Pant as a batter; he has shown one of the classic performances in the England tour in 2025, where he scored 479 runs in 7 innings. The dip in batting form started in the series against South Africa, where in four innings he only managed to make 49 runs.
Ajit Agarkar explained the decision
Talking about the decision in the press conference, Ajit Agarkar explained that they don’t want to sacrifice Rishabh Pant, the batter, saying, "Obviously, Rishabh was vice-captain, and we wanted him to be the best batter he can... So, no, there's no reason [for the change in vice-captaincy]. That's the best option we think at this point we have as far as vice-captain with experience [is concerned].”
Rishabh Pant has been picked by Lucknow Super Giants in the 2025 auction, and he became the highest-ever paid IPL player. Since then, the pressure has remained there on him; his white ball stats replicate that very well.
🚨 News 🚨
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 19, 2026
Presenting #TeamIndia's squads for the @IDFCFIRSTBank Test match and the 3️⃣-match ODI series against Afghanistan in June 🙌#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/hFiABALLld
Ajit Agarkar also explained why they chose KL Rahul and said, as quoted by cricbuzz, “We saw during the South African series as well when Shubman [Gill] got injured. And KL provides us the necessary experience you need in case the situation arises. Plus, he has obviously had a really good tour of England and against the West Indies.”
India will play the one-off test match against Afghanistan after 6 years. Last time they visited India, they lost the one-off test match by 262 runs and an innings.
