IND vs SA | Stand-in India captain Rishabh Pant: My batting order vs South Africa will depend on conditions

Stand-in India captain Rishabh Pant on Wednesday said that his batting order against South Africa in the forthcoming five-match T20I series will depend on the conditions.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named Pant as captain after KL Rahul was ruled out owing to a right groin injury on the eve of the first T20I in Delhi.

“My batting order will depend on the conditions,” Pant said while addressing the pre-match press conference.

“In these conditions, we can’t have a floating batting line because we play spinners day in and day out. But if we need a floating batting line up we will have it. Not much will change in the batting order as KL was to open. There will be one change. We don’t have a lot of openers so you can guess what that will be.”

Along with Rahul, spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been ruled out of the T20I series after getting hit on his right hand while batting in the nets last evening. Since Pant was originally named vice-captain for the series, Hardik Pandya will be the deputy of Pant for the home series against South Africa.

The selection committee didn’t name replacements for Rahul and Kuldeep. Both the cricketers will now report to the NCA where the medical team will assess them further and decide on the future course of treatment.

Asked about getting to work with head coach Rahul Dravid, Pant said: “It’s is the best thing to have him around.

“I have worked with him during the U-19 days, with India and the IPL also. So there is a lot of experience there. Lots of learning from him like how to conduct yourself on and off the field, game tactics.”

India’s T20I squad: Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.