‘Only for him to warm the bench’: Delhi Capitals co-owner questions Rishabh Pant’s absence from playing XI

Rishabh Pant has been with Team India, but has lost out his place to KL Rahul, who has been brilliant with the bat in the middle order as well as safe with the gloves.

Parth Jindal, who is the head of Jindal South-West Sports (JSW Sports), and is also the co-owner of Delhi Capitals (DC), is not too happy with the way the Indian team has been selected in the recent times. He advocated for the inclusion of Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin in India’s limited-overs teams. Taking to Twitter, Jindal wrote: “And why carry @RishabhPant17 only for him to warm the bench? Surely he would have benefited from playing against New Zealand A or domestic cricket? To see a player as talented as him not play the 5th T20 and now the 3rd ODI makes no sense #Xfactor,” wrote Jindal in a later tweet.

India's Rishabh Pant (AP)

This is perhaps the first time when an IPL team owner is speaking about Indian team selection policy. Rishabh Pant has been with Team India, but has lost out his place to KL Rahul, who has been brilliant with the bat in the middle order as well as safe with the gloves.

Rahul has taken to this role pretty seamlessly and has been in prolific form with the bat in the middle order. He slammed a century in the final match of the ODI series and has been quite good with the gloves, both against the pacers as well as spinners.

Delhi Capitals also acquired R Ashwin before this season, and as per Jindal, the off-spinner should be in the side. “Don’t know why @ashwinravi99 is not in this team! There seems to be an aversion to wicket-takers! After whitewashing the kiwis in T20’s the Kiwis showing India that the semi-final victory in the World Cup was no fluke. India needs wicket-takers and players with X factor,” Jindal wrote on Twitter.