'Won't be surprised if selectors see Rishabh Pant as a frontrunner for India captaincy in future': Mohammed Azharuddin

Mohammed Azharuddin took to Twitter to praise India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, saying he won't be surprised if the selectors see Pant as a frontrunner to lead India in the near future.

Rishabh Pant is currently the toast of the nation. After impressive performances against Australia and England in the last few months, Pant was on Monday announced the captain of the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) season. Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin believes he may go a long way when it comes to leadership roles.

Mohammed Azharuddin and Rishabh Pant

Azharuddin took to Twitter to praise the Delhi youngster, saying he won't be surprised if Pant goes on to lead India in the near future. His tweet on Tuesday read: "Rishabh Pant has had such fabulous few months, establishing himself in all formats. It won’t come as a surprise if the selectors see him as a front-runner fr Indian captaincy in near future. His attacking cricket will stand India in good stead in times to come.@RishabhPant17 @BCCI."

Pant replaces Shreyas Iyer at the helm of the Delhi outfit after the latter suffered an injury to his left shoulder while fielding the first ODI against England in Pune. He has been ruled out of the entire season.

Pant had a poor IPL 2020, scoring 343 runs in 14 matches with just a solitary half-century to his name. He was then dropped from the white-ball leg of the Australian tour (3 ODIs and 3 T20Is) and warmed the bench in the first Test in Adelaide.

His fortunes changed right after that.

He was brought in for the second Test in Melbourne, which India won to level the series 1-1, and didn't look back since. Even though he batted once in that Test and scored 29, it was in the third and fourth Test when a more dependable Rishabh Pant turned up.

Needing to bat more than an entire day to draw the third Test in Sydney, Pant's 97 along with the famous rear-guard action of R. Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari helped India to a memorable draw.

In the next Test, the 23-year-old Pant scored a match-winning 89 on the last at Australia's fortress, the Gabba, to help India seal the series 2-1.

Fast forward to the Test series against England at home. Pant scored an impressive 91 in the first Test but could not help his team escape defeat. The hosts won the next three matches and won the series 3-1. The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman scored a stellar counter-attacking century in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

During the recently concluded India-England ODI series, Pant smashed two consecutive blistering half-centuries, as India completed a trifecta of series wins over the Brits.

Now, in the absence of Iyer, Pant will shoulder a massive responsibility of bettering DC's last year's performance as he'd hope to guide them to the title.

DC will begin their IPL 2020 campaign against Chennai Super Kings on April 10.